Study to Assess the Knowledge Regarding Anaemia among School Going Adolescent Girls of Rural Meerut, Uttar Pradesh

Abstract

Back ground: Adolescent is a period of peak growth for boys and girls. Food and nutrition needsproportionately higher during the growth spurt2. In country like India with varying social customs andcommon beliefs against female, there is high prevalence of malnutrition among girls. If anaemic adolescentgirl became pregnant, it may increase both mortality and morbidity rate in both mother and infant i.e maternalmortality rate and infant mortality rate. Material & Methods: The present quasi-experimental study wasconducted among school going adolescent girls of class 9th , 10th, 11th and 12th of Gurukul inter college,Panchali. Data was collected on predesigned semi structured questionnaire which included details of sociodemographic variables like age, parent’s education and other details about knowledge regarding anaemia, itscauses and sources of iron.One week after the presentation again the knowledge of students was assessed onthe same set of questionnaire. Result: 31% were of 15 yrs, 30% were of 16 yrs. Knowledge about anaemiabefore presentation was present in 76% students while it was 96% after presentation. 20% knows about thesources of iron. 60% of the study subject were aware of programme related to anaemia Conclusion: Despitethe various measures taken by government of India to control anaemia in various groups the severity ofnutritional anaemia continues to remain a public health issue of great magnitude.