Determinants and trends of anaemia among children in Empowered Action Group states of India

Pandey, Chandra

INTRODUCTION: The government of India has identified eight economically and demographically backward states as empowered action group (EAG) states representing about 46 % of country’s population. Anaemia being a significant public health problem among women and children needs special attention in this region. According to National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3), anaemia among children can result in impaired cognitive performance as well as increased morbidity from infectious diseases. In India about 70 % children aged 6-59 months are anaemic.

OBJECTIVES: To examine the age-specific trend and determinants of anaemia among children aged 6-59 months in EAG states of India.

DATA AND METHODS: This study is based on unit level information on 17023 children aged 6-59 months taken from NFHS- 3 conducted during 2005-06. NFHS-3 undertook direct measurement of the haemoglobin levels and classified anaemia into mild, moderate and severe categories. The covariates of anaemia have been examined using a multinomial logistic regression model. Odds ratio and 95% confidence interval for each significant predictor are computed and presented. Eleven variables of mother’s and child’s characteristics were found significant on bi-variate analysis and were included in the final model.

RESULTS: Prevalence of anaemia was reported for different age groups. The prevalence was highest (84.2%) in age group 12-17 months and a consistent decline was observed with increasing age. The factors significantly associated with severe anaemia were child age, stunting and maternal anaemia with odds ratio 4.71 (CI 3.74-5.93), 3.29 (CI 2.52-4.31) and 3.16 (CI 2.51-3.99) respectively.

CONCLUSIONS: There was an increase in anaemia levels up to child’s age 12-17 months after which a consistent decline was observed. For all three categories of anaemia child’s age was the most contributing factor. Other determinants were maternal anaemia, nutritional status of child and mother’s education.