Assessment of impact of iron supplementation amongst anaemic adolescent school girls of Raipur city

Abstract

Iron deficiency anaemia is a global public health problem, Adolescence is a crucial phase of growth since it offers the second and last chance for catch up growth in the life cycle of individuals. It is crystal clear that the role of low birth weight, prematurity and neonatal infant mortality among children born to malnourished adolescent girls is high. So the best way to combat anaemia is supplementation with Iron and folic acid tablets as the absorption of iron from Indian dietaries is too low. 360 anaemic adolescent girls of high school of Raipur City were selected for the study and categorized into two groups. The first group, which as experimental group, was given supplementation with iron and folic acid tablets, while the second group which was the control group was provided only with nutrition education The subjects of experimental group were provided with different types of supplementation i.e. once week, twice a week and thrice a week respectively. Their haemoglobin value was estimated using Cyan met method. After three months of continuous supplementation again haemoglobin estimation of subjects was done. The study revealed that role of iron and folic acid supplementation is important in improving the haemoglobin level of anaemic adolescent girls. Twice a week supplementation has proved to be more effective and economical as compared to once a week and thrice a week supplementation. The prevalence of anaemia amongst the adolescent girls of this region seems to be very high, so there is an urgent need for assessment, advocacy, prevention and control initiatives to be developed in India to reduce anaemia in adolescent girls.