Public health activity for the prevention of nutritional anemia of women in a Japanese rural population

Abstract

We measured the haemoglobin levels of women in Akadani of Niigata Prefecture, a typical rural area in Japan. It was found that 24.4% of women had levels lower than 12g/dl. And it was suggested that the active method should be taken for the prevention of anaemia in Akadani.From a patho-physiological point of view, anaemia of women in Akadani was due to iron deficiency. And from the cross-sectional study and the longitudinal study, the following sociomedical factors were suggested for the occurrence of anaemia: relative body weight, iron intake, intensity of labour, family size, income and frequency of pregnancy.Accordingly, it was emphasized that the improvement of nutritional intake, the betterment of women's labour pattern and the health education on family planning were very important for the prevention of anaemia. According to these results, our project team has actively performed a health control programmes. Consequently, the prevalence rate of anaemia has gradually decreased and has been reduced from 30∼40% to 20∼30% in four years.Part of this study was reported at the 43rd Annual Meeting of Japanese Society for Hygiene in 1973, the 33rd and 34th Annual Meetings of the Japanese Society of Public Health in 1974 and 1975, and the 10th International Congress of Nutrition in 1975.