Introduction
Anaemia is highly prevalent globally, disproportionately affecting children and women of reproductive age. Anaemia is associated with poor cognitive and motor development, and work capacity. Among pregnant women, iron deficiency anaemia is also associated with adverse reproductive outcomes such as preterm delivery, low-birth-weight infants, and decreased iron stores for the baby, which may lead to impaired development. Iron deficiency is considered the most common cause of anaemia but there are other nutritional and non-nutritional causes. Blood haemoglobin concentration is used to diagnose anaemia and it is affected by many factors, including altitude (metres above sea level), smoking, trimester of pregnancy, age and sex. When blood haemoglobin concentrations are used in combination with other indicators of iron status, they provide information about the severity of iron deficiency. The prevalence of anaemia in a population can be used to classify the public health significance of the problem.
Definition
Percentage of children aged 6−59 months with a haemoglobin concentration less than 110 g/L, adjusted for altitude.
Method of measurement
The anaemia status is assessed using blood haemoglobin concentrations. Blood haemoglobin concentrations are typically measured in surveys using the direct cyanmethemoglobin method in a laboratory or with a portable, battery-operated, haemoglobin photometer (using the azide-methaemoglobin method) in the field.
This data story analyses various factors from multiple sources that are highly correlated with the Anaemic Children at the taluk level and uses predictive analysis to estimate the impact of changes in each factor on districts and taluks.
Preferred data sources
National Health Family Survey 5
Factors affecting Anaemia in Children
Factors with significant correlation with Anaemic children can be viewed from the below interactive dashboard :
1.Number of Chief Health officers Per 1000 Population
2. Number of Asha Working Per 1000 Population
3. Children under age 6 months exclusively breastfed(%)
4. Children low birth weight(%)
5. Children age 12-23 months fully vaccinated based(%)
6. % Anganwadis in rented buildings
7. Children under 5 years who are underweight (weight-for-age)(%)
8. Prevalence of diarrhoea under 5 years of age(%)
9. children age 6 to 59 months who are stunted (height-for-age)(%)
Recommended Budget Allocation for Reducing Anaemia
The budget allocation is calculated based on the correlation of the various significant factors as discussed above. If a factor is highly correlated, then that factor has to be allocated more budget than others. The method also takes into account the population of each district/taluk and distributes the budget in such a way that if a particular district/taluk has more people who are affected by a factor x, then we allocate more amount to that district/taluk in order to control that factor.
