Abstract
Anemia remains a major public health challenge with high prevalence among women in South and Southeast Asian countries. Reductions in anemia rates have been stalled, despite the implementation of different maternal health and nutrition programs. This study aimed to assess the prevalence and factors associated with anemia among women of reproductive age in seven selected South and Southeast Asian countries. This cross-sectional analysis utilized data from the most recent demographic and health surveys from seven selected South and Southeast Asian countries (Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, and Timor-Leste) between 2011 and 2016. This study included 726,164 women of reproductive age. Multiple logistic regression was performed to assess the factors associated with anemia among women for each country separately. The combined prevalence of anemia was 52.5%, ranged from 22.7% in Timor-Leste to 63% in the Maldives. Results from multiple logistic regression suggest that likelihood of anemia is significantly higher among younger women (15-24 years), women with primary or no education, women from the poorest wealth quintile, women without toilet facilities and improved water sources, underweight women, and women with more than one children born in last five years in most of the countries. The prevalence of anemia is high among women of reproductive age in the seven selected South and Southeast Asian countries. The results of this study suggest that various household, environmental and individual factors contribute to the increased likelihood of anemia. Evidence-based, multidisciplinary policies and programs targeting mothers' health and nutrition status, in addition to scaling-up women's education and socioeconomic status, are warranted to combat anemia.
Highlights
Anemia, which is defined as a hemoglobin (Hb) concentration less than normal [1], remains a major public health challenge with a prevalence rate of 47% among non-pregnant and 52% in pregnant women in South and Southeast Asian (SSEA) countries [1,2]
Factors associated with anemia among women of reproductive age in South and Southeast Asian countries available and can be freely downloaded upon the formal request from the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHSs) website
The prevalence of anemia is high among women of reproductive age in the seven selected South and Southeast Asian countries
Summary
Anemia, which is defined as a hemoglobin (Hb) concentration less than normal [1], remains a major public health challenge with a prevalence rate of 47% among non-pregnant and 52% in pregnant women in South and Southeast Asian (SSEA) countries [1,2]. Previous studies have highlighted the probable causes of anemia among women including undernutrition, repeated childbearing, pregnant and lactation, inadequate dietary intake during pregnancy, inadequate water hygiene and sanitation status, rural residency, and parasitic infection [11,12,13]. Anemia remains a major public health challenge with high prevalence among women in South and Southeast Asian countries. This study aimed to assess the prevalence and factors associated with anemia among women of reproductive age in seven selected South and Southeast Asian countries
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