Effectiveness and Feasibility of Weekly Iron and Folic Acid Supplementation to Adolescent Girls and Boys through Peer Educators at Community Level in the Tribal Area of Gujarat

BACKGROUND: Anemia during adolescence affects growth and development of girls and boys increasing their vulnerability to dropping out-of-school. Hence investing in preventing anemia during adolescence is critical for their survival, growth and development. OBJECTIVE: To find out the burden of anemia on adolescent age group in the tribal area of Jhagadia block and to assess the change in the hemoglobin level through the weekly Iron and Folic Acid IFA (DOTS) directly observed treatment supplementation under Supervision by Peer Educators at Community level among adolescents. METHODS: Community based intervention study conducted with adolescents (117 girls and 127 boys) aged 10-19 years, through supplementation of IFA (DOTS) by trained Peer Educators for 52 weeks in 5 tribal villages of Jhagadia. Hemoglobin level was determined by HemoCue method before and after intervention and sickle cell anemia by Electrophoresis method. Primary data on hemoglobin and number of tablets consumed was collected and statistically analyzed in SPSS 16.0 software by applying paired t-test. RESULTS: The overall findings suggest that the prevalence of anemia reduced from 79.5% to 58% among adolescent girls and from 64% to 39% among boys. Mean rise of hemoglobin seen was 1.5 g/dl among adolescent boys and 1.3 g/dl among girls. A significant association was found in change in hemoglobin before and after intervention (P = 0.000) CONCLUSION: Prevalence of anemia among girls and boys can be reduced in their adolescent phase of life, through weekly supplementation of iron folic acid tablets under direct supervision and Nutrition Education by Peer Educator at community level.