Abstract
Anaemia in women of reproductive age (WRA) can adversely affect maternal health and birthoutcomes. Despite numerous policies and initiatives, anaemia among women continues to be asignificant public health issue in India, with West Bengal (WB) having the highest burden ofanaemia. In order to establish priorities for public health policy, this study attempted to exam-ine the factors associated with anaemia among WRA in West Bengal. Data was drawn from theNational Family and Health Survey-5, 2019-21. A cross-sectional sample of 21408 women aged 15-49 years was analysed. Cross-tabulation was used to compute the prevalence of anaemiaby background characteristics of women and Chi-squared test to check the bivariate associa-tion. Furthermore, binary logistic regression model was run to examine the contribution of thepredictor variables on anaemia. Seven out of ten women in West Bengal were found anaemic.Women aged 40-49 years (Odds Ratio: 1.27, 95% Confidence Interval: 1.12-1.44, SC (OR:1.24, 95% CI: 1.13-1.36), ST (OR: 1.72, 95% CI: 1.47-2.02), and Rural women (OR 1.26, 95%CI: 1.15-1.38); those who had no formal education (OR: 1.12, 95% CI: 0.92-1.28), belonged tothe poorest households (OR 1.34, 95% CI: 1.27-1.43), used groundwater for drinking (OR1.13, 95% CI: 1.04-1.22), were underweight (OR 1.24, 95% CI: 1.12-1.37) and lactating (OR1.11, 95% CI: 0.98-1.24); had three or more children (OR 1.15, 95% CI: 0.98-1.36) reported significantly higher likelihood of being anaemic. Age, education, household wealth, social group,source of drinking water, residence, nutritional status, maternity status were significantly asso-ciated with anaemia. Therefore, targeted interventions considering the discussed determinantsmay help in reducing anaemia.For instance, haemoglobin levels of women should be measured on regular basis.
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