Assessment of nutritional status and prevalence of iron-deficiency anaemia among school going adolescent girls at rural areas of Purba Medinipur district: A cross sectional study based KAP model

Abstract

Anaemia, a serious and challenging nutrition cum health problem of Indian adolescent girls, the major reasons are poor knowledge, practices and socio-economic conditions. The study covered the prevalence of under-nutrition and anaemia in adolescent girls, their nutrition-related knowledge, attitude, and practices (KAP) and to find out the relation among socio-economic status, body mass index (BMI) and 'KAP’ with anaemia. School going rural adolescent girls (n=200) of Purba Medinipur district, West Bengal were selected randomly. The study revealed that 53.5% were from lower middle class and 43.5% were in under-nutrition status. Among the participants, 53.8%, 33.8% and 1.2% suffering from mild, moderate and severe anaemia respectively. In the domains of nutrition and anaemia, 74% have inadequate knowledge, 88% have poor attitude level, and 89% follow unhealthy practices. A significant association noted among the socioeconomic status, BMI, KAP levels with nutritional anaemia and such factors have positive impact on it.