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Anemia among Women of Reproductive Age: An Overview of Global Burden, Trends, Determinants, and Drivers of Progress in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

Relatively little progress has been made in reducing anemia prevalence among women of reproductive age (WRA anemia). Interventions, policies and programs aimed at reducing WRA anemia have the potential to improve overall not only women’s, but also children’s health and nutrition outcomes. To our kno...

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Autores principales: Owais, Aatekah, Merritt, Catherine, Lee, Christopher, Bhutta, Zulfiqar A.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8401240/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34444903
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu13082745
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author Owais, Aatekah
Merritt, Catherine
Lee, Christopher
Bhutta, Zulfiqar A.
author_facet Owais, Aatekah
Merritt, Catherine
Lee, Christopher
Bhutta, Zulfiqar A.
author_sort Owais, Aatekah
collection PubMed
description Relatively little progress has been made in reducing anemia prevalence among women of reproductive age (WRA anemia). Interventions, policies and programs aimed at reducing WRA anemia have the potential to improve overall not only women’s, but also children’s health and nutrition outcomes. To our knowledge, this is the first review that aimed to compile evidence on the determinants and drivers of WRA anemia reduction in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). We synthesized the available evidence on the determinants and drivers, including government policies and programs, of WRA anemia and their mitigation strategies across a wide range of countries and geographies, thus contributing to the complex and multifactorial etiology of anemia. We carried out a systematic review of published peer-reviewed and grey literature assessing national or subnational decline in WRA anemia prevalence and the associated drivers in LMICs. Among the 21 studies meeting our inclusion criteria, proximal determinants of healthcare utilization, especially during pregnancy and with the use of contraceptives, were strong drivers of WRA anemia reduction. Changes in other maternal characteristics, such as an increase in age at first pregnancy, BMI, birth spacing, and reduction in parity, were associated with modest improvements in anemia prevalence. Access to fortified foods, especially iron-fortified flour, was also a predictor of a decrease in WRA anemia. Of the intermediate determinants, an increase in household wealth, educational attainment and access to improved sanitation contributed significantly to WRA anemia reduction. Although several common determinants emerged at the proximal and intermediate levels, the set of anemia determinants and the strength of the association between each driver and WRA anemia reduction were unique in each setting included in this review. Further research is needed to provide targeted recommendations for each country and region where WRA anemia prevalence remains high.
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spelling pubmed-84012402021-08-29 Anemia among Women of Reproductive Age: An Overview of Global Burden, Trends, Determinants, and Drivers of Progress in Low- and Middle-Income Countries Owais, Aatekah Merritt, Catherine Lee, Christopher Bhutta, Zulfiqar A. Nutrients Article Relatively little progress has been made in reducing anemia prevalence among women of reproductive age (WRA anemia). Interventions, policies and programs aimed at reducing WRA anemia have the potential to improve overall not only women’s, but also children’s health and nutrition outcomes. To our knowledge, this is the first review that aimed to compile evidence on the determinants and drivers of WRA anemia reduction in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). We synthesized the available evidence on the determinants and drivers, including government policies and programs, of WRA anemia and their mitigation strategies across a wide range of countries and geographies, thus contributing to the complex and multifactorial etiology of anemia. We carried out a systematic review of published peer-reviewed and grey literature assessing national or subnational decline in WRA anemia prevalence and the associated drivers in LMICs. Among the 21 studies meeting our inclusion criteria, proximal determinants of healthcare utilization, especially during pregnancy and with the use of contraceptives, were strong drivers of WRA anemia reduction. Changes in other maternal characteristics, such as an increase in age at first pregnancy, BMI, birth spacing, and reduction in parity, were associated with modest improvements in anemia prevalence. Access to fortified foods, especially iron-fortified flour, was also a predictor of a decrease in WRA anemia. Of the intermediate determinants, an increase in household wealth, educational attainment and access to improved sanitation contributed significantly to WRA anemia reduction. Although several common determinants emerged at the proximal and intermediate levels, the set of anemia determinants and the strength of the association between each driver and WRA anemia reduction were unique in each setting included in this review. Further research is needed to provide targeted recommendations for each country and region where WRA anemia prevalence remains high. MDPI 2021-08-10 /pmc/articles/PMC8401240/ /pubmed/34444903 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu13082745 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Owais, Aatekah
Merritt, Catherine
Lee, Christopher
Bhutta, Zulfiqar A.
Anemia among Women of Reproductive Age: An Overview of Global Burden, Trends, Determinants, and Drivers of Progress in Low- and Middle-Income Countries
title Anemia among Women of Reproductive Age: An Overview of Global Burden, Trends, Determinants, and Drivers of Progress in Low- and Middle-Income Countries
title_full Anemia among Women of Reproductive Age: An Overview of Global Burden, Trends, Determinants, and Drivers of Progress in Low- and Middle-Income Countries
title_fullStr Anemia among Women of Reproductive Age: An Overview of Global Burden, Trends, Determinants, and Drivers of Progress in Low- and Middle-Income Countries
title_full_unstemmed Anemia among Women of Reproductive Age: An Overview of Global Burden, Trends, Determinants, and Drivers of Progress in Low- and Middle-Income Countries
title_short Anemia among Women of Reproductive Age: An Overview of Global Burden, Trends, Determinants, and Drivers of Progress in Low- and Middle-Income Countries
title_sort anemia among women of reproductive age: an overview of global burden, trends, determinants, and drivers of progress in low- and middle-income countries
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8401240/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34444903
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu13082745
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