Abstract
Anemia is a globally widespread condition in women and is associated with reduced economic productivity and increased mortality worldwide. Here we map annual 2000–2018 geospatial estimates of anemia prevalence in women of reproductive age (15–49 years) across 82 low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), stratify anemia by severity and aggregate results to policy-relevant administrative and national levels. Additionally, we provide subnational disparity analyses to provide a comprehensive overview of anemia prevalence inequalities within these countries and predict progress toward the World Health Organization’s Global Nutrition Target (WHO GNT) to reduce anemia by half by 2030. Our results demonstrate widespread moderate improvements in overall anemia prevalence but identify only three LMICs with a high probability of achieving the WHO GNT by 2030 at a national scale, and no LMIC is expected to achieve the target in all their subnational administrative units. Our maps show where large within-country disparities occur, as well as areas likely to fall short of the WHO GNT, offering precision public health tools so that adequate resource allocation and subsequent interventions can be targeted to the most vulnerable populations.
Highlights
Anemia is a globally widespread condition in women and is associated with reduced economic productivity and increased mortality worldwide
80 (97.6%) low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) had at least one second administrative-level unit, and 38 (46.3%) LMICs had a majority of districts with 20–39.9% mean overall anemia prevalence
Over a quarter of LMICs (25.6%; 21 LMICs) had >40% mean national-level anemia in 2018, whereas 76 (92.7%) had at least one district, and 22 (26.8%) LMICs had most of their districts, with >40% mean overall anemia prevalence
Summary
Anemia is a globally widespread condition in women and is associated with reduced economic productivity and increased mortality worldwide. We map annual 2000–2018 geospatial estimates of anemia prevalence in women of reproductive age (15–49 years) across 82 low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), stratify anemia by severity and aggregate results to policy-relevant administrative and national levels. Causes of anemia can be divided into three non-mutually exclusive pathways: blood loss, increased red blood cell destruction and inadequate red blood cell production. Women of reproductive age (WRA; ages 15–49 years) are at increased risk of iron deficiency and, anemia, compared to men, due to physiological changes such as menstruation (blood loss pathway), pregnancy (inadequate production pathway due to increased demand) and bleeding in childbirth[16,17]. The geospatial nature of our estimates allows for the flexibility to aggregate to different (and sometimes changing) boundaries and catchment areas over the observation period
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