Anemia, The Commonest Chronic Disease Of World, Still A Neglected Disease In Children

Image Credit: By Edonasela [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], from Wikimedia Commons

Anemia is the condition of having low hemoglobin in the blood. By recent estimates 32.9% of the world population or 2.36 billion people suffer from Anemia due to all causes and the dominant cause of anemia is iron deficiency in more than half the cases.

Preschool children aged 6 months to 5 years are the worst affected population in whom the disease could affect more than 50% of children. A recent survey NFHS-4 measured that 58.5 % of Indian children younger than 5 years suffer from anemia.

I am not sure whether you get surprised by these facts. Most of the time when we think of common chronic diseases, Heart disease, Tuberculosis, Diabetes, etc. occupy our mind-place.

Why is anemia not an important global health priority?

The reasons could be that diseases that cause death are given the highest priority and although anemia is the commonest chronic disease it is usually not the commonest direct cause of death. That space is instead occupied by heart disease and others.

The second reason could be that Anemia is much less a problem in developed countries as compared to the developing countries, for example, while only 5.6% of US population suffers from anemia, on the other hand, it is "Developing Countries" that account for 89% of all anemia-related disability.

The role of agencies like WHO needs to be scrutinized and augmented in this regard. WHO Global nutrition targets 2025 only target the reduction of anemia in women of reproductive age and childhood anemia is not yet given a priority. As per the recent report of a WHO expert panel, "At current rates of reduction, the 2nd Global Nutrition Target for 2025, a 50% reduction of anemia in women of reproductive age, is unlikely to be met."

Is anemia really an important disease of children?

A recent study on the effect of anemia on child mortality found that "For each unit increase in Hb, the risk of child death falls by 24%" Thus, anemia contributes to mortality indirectly. Anemia does not affect the risk of death alone, it additionally affects the productivity and development of a child. As per the report of the same WHO expert panel, "iron deficiency with or without anemia impairs cognitive development, limits attention span and shortens memory capacity, resulting in poor classroom performance, high absenteeism, and early dropout rates among schoolchildren". As per another study, "Chronic anemia may impair growth, cardiac function and cognitive development and childhood anemia should never be trivialized".

Can childhood anemia be prevented?

As half of the childhood anemia is due to iron deficiency, it can be prevented by giving iron-rich solid foods to children after 6 months of age. Foods rich in iron include meat and meat products, eggs, legumes, green vegetables, and dry fruit. Cow milk is a poor source of iron and children who only take cow's milk in large amounts as their predominant daily diet with very little solids are more likely to develop iron deficiency.

About the author: Dr. Naval Asija is a licensed MBBS Physician from India. MBBS is the equivalent of the MD degree offered by international medical schools. He is based in Delhi, India, and works as a medical writer, editor, and consultant. He supports medical researches as an author's editor, medical communication companies involved in medico-marketing activities, and medical technology companies in improving their products. He can be contacted via his LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/navalasija/

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