Abstract
Context: Nutritional anemia is a major public health problem of women in India. Kerala has good health indicators in comparison to other states of India. However, the health of tribals, one of the marginalized communities, of the state is poor. Aims: Primary objective of the study was to estimate the prevalence of anemia among tribal women of 15-45 years of age of Wayanad District. Settings and Design: A cross-sectional survey in 10 clusters of Wayanad district of Kerala. Subjects and Methods: A cross-sectional survey was done among a sample of 347 tribal nonpregnant, non-lactating women aged between 15-45 years in 10 clusters of Wayanad on the basis of probability proportional to size in 2010. Anemia was diagnosed by estimating the hemoglobin concentration in the blood with the use of direct cyanmethemoglobin method. Results: The mean hemoglobin of the study group was 9.04 gm% (Standard deviation (SD) 1.64) and coefficient of variance is 18.14%. Prevalence of anemia was found to be 96.5% (n = 335) (Standard error = 0.986 and 95% confidence interval, CI, 94.53, 98.47). Mild anemia (Hemoglobin = 10-11.9 gm%) was found to be 30.5%. About (55.9%) had moderate degree anemia (Hb 7-9.9 gm%). Prevalence of severe anemia (<7 gm%) was found to be 10.1%. Conclusions: Prevalence of anemia was substantially high among women of reproductive age group of Wayanad.
Published Version
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call