Public health programmes failed to address anaemia among girls, women: study

New Delhi: Government health and nutrition programs substantially reduce anaemia in children under five years of age and expectant mothers but fail to focus on girls and non-pregnant women, according to a study by the International Food Policy Research Institute. Considerable progress was made in India between 2006 and 2016 in reducing anaemia in children under five years of age and pregnant women, showed the study titled “Trends and drivers of change in the prevalence of anaemia among 1 million women and children in India, 2006-2016,” published in BMJ Global Health journal. Anaemia declined by 11 percentage points among children, 7.6 percentage points among expectant mothers, and a mere 2.1 percentage points in teenage girls and women under 50. Existence of multiple causes of anaemia in the population and having tunnel vision in our approach to addressing the problem with too much focus on iron and folic acid pills could also be a contributory factor,” said Samuel Scott, one of the authors of the study.NextMAds Positive changes in mothers’ education, coverage of nutrition and health interventions, socioeconomic status, sanitation, and meat and fish consumption contributed to an improved count —low haemoglobin count indicates anaemia—among both children and pregnant women during 2006-16, the study indicated. In contrast, the problem worsened in states such as Himachal Pradesh and Punjab, where anaemia among non-pregnant women increased by more than 10 percentage points.fourthMAds Overall, anaemia prevalence declined in most states, but increased in two states for children, three for expectant mothers, and eight for non-pregnant women.