PREVALENCE OF ANEMIA AND ITS ASSOCIATED FACTORS IN CHILDREN AGED 6-59 MONTHS IN BHUTANESE REFUGEE CAMP OF DAMAK MUNICIPALITY

Abstract

A cross sectional descriptive study was conducted to determine the prevalence of anemia of children aged 6- 59 months living in Bhutanese Refugee camp and to find out factors associated with it. A structured questionnaire was administered to the participants/care taker for socio-demographic and food frequency questionnaire for determining the prevalence of anemia. Hemocue Hb Photometer was used to determine hemoglobin level of the children and anthropometric measurement was done based on WHO reference. The anthropometric data were analyzed using WHO Anthro version 3.2.2. Similarly data on various characteristics were analyzed by SPSS version 20. Chi-square test was used to analyze the association between hemoglobin and factors associated with it. Result showed that out of 131 samples the prevalence of anemia was 34.3% with varying degrees ranging from mild and moderate which were 26.7% and 7.6% respectively. None of the participants were severely anemic. The study prevails that religion, birth weight, disease history, stunting, time of initiation of breastfeeding and knowledge about anemia was significantly associated with anemia (p-value <0.05). The study indicated that in religion Hindus were more affected by anemia in comparison to other religion. Similarly, association was also found with the children who had initiated breastfeeding within eight hour or more, disease history in which children were mainly suffering from diarrhea and chronic diseases, and mothers who had less knowledge about anemia were directly related to anemia prevalence of children. This study indicated that prevalence of anemia is still an important problem among children aged 6-59 months in Bhutanese refugee camp of Damak municipality, the intervention provided should be more advanced and implemented properly in camps to overcome the problem of anemia. Awareness, nutrition education and periodical evaluation are necessary to combat these issues.