Anemia among Apparently Healthy Senegalese Children Aged 9-15 Months

Authors

  • Saliou Diouf Institut de Pédiatrie Sociale BP: 5593 Dakar/Fann, Senegal
  • Assane Sylla Institut de Pédiatrie Sociale BP: 5593 Dakar/Fann, Senegal
  • Fallou Diop Institut de Pédiatrie Sociale BP: 5593 Dakar/Fann, Senegal
  • Abdallah Diallo Institut de Pédiatrie Sociale BP: 5593 Dakar/Fann, Senegal
  • Mamadou Sarr Institut de Pédiatrie Sociale BP: 5593 Dakar/Fann, Senegal

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.6000/1929-4247.2013.02.01.2

Keywords:

Anemia, Risk Factors, Healthy Children

Abstract

In Senegal, despite its high frequency, there is no real program to fight against anemia among infants. This work was carried out in the Dakar suburb from 1st September, 2009 to 27th January, 2010 among apparently healthy children aged 9-15 months at the time of their immunization against yellow fever and measles. They showed no known chronic condition or acute infection at the time of the survey. The objectives were to study the diet, prevalence, type and risk factors of anemia. The questionnaire was about whether the father and the mother were working and about the children’s diet during the first six months of their life. All the children underwent anthropometric measurements (weight and height) and a complete blood count. We considered children as anemic if the hemoglobin rate was below 11g/dl. Of the 245 children, 212 were anemic, which was a prevalence of 86.5%. This anemia, frequently of the microcytic hypochromic type (68. 86%) was significantly (p < 0.0003) observed among the children of housewives compared with those whose mothers were employed. Among anemic children, 60.8% were only taking breast milk with or without cereal porridge as a food supplement. The absence of consumption of protein, vegetables, fruits and dairy products was a risk factor for the occurrence of anemia (p <0.0001). In total, at the time immunization is stopped, almost all Senegalese children, while apparently healthy, still face nutritional anemia. The adverse consequences of anemia on child health require the implementation in developing countries of a specific program of struggle against anemia. The activity of vaccination might be the best opportunity to provide the nutritional education these mothers need.

References

SENEGAL. Agence Nationale de la Statistique et de la Démographie, ICF International. Enquête Démographique et de Santé à Indicateurs Multiples au Sénégal (EDS-MICS) 2010-2011. USA: Calverton, Maryland 2012; pp. 183-5.

World Health Organization. Iron deficiency anemia: assessment, prevention and control: a guide for programme managers. Geneva: WHO 2001.

Lukens JN. Iron deficiency and infection. Am J Dis Child 1975; 129: 160-2.

Sachdev H, Gera T, Nested P. Effect of iron supplementation on mental and motor development in children: systematic review of randomized controlled trials. Public Health Nutr 2005; 8(2): 117-32. http://dx.doi.org/10.1079/PHN2004677

Hurtado EK, Claussen AH, Scott KG. Early childhood anemia and mild or moderate mental retardation. Am J Clin Nutr 1999; 69(1): 115-19.

Diouf S, Diagne I, Moreira C, Signaté Sy H, Faye O, Ndiaye O, et al. Traitement intégré de la carence enfer, de l’avitaminose A et des parasitoses intestinales: impact sur la croissance des enfants sénégalais. Arch Pediatr 2002; 9: 3-4. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0929-693X(01)00704-7

Balarajan Y, Ramakrisnan U, Ozaltin E. Anaemia in low-income and middle-income countries. Lancet 2012; 378(9809): 2123-35. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(10)62304-5

Pasricha SR, Black J, Muthayya S, Shet A, Bhat V, Nagarai S, et al. Determinants of anemia among young children in rural India. Pediatrics 2010; 126: 140-49. http://dx.doi.org/10.1542/peds.2009-3108

Stadlmayr B, N Enujiugha V, Bayili RG, Fagbohoun EG, Samb B, Addy P, et al. Table de composition des aliments d’Afrique de l’Ouest. Rome: OUN, Food and Agriculture 2011; p. 166.

Ninh NX, Berger J, Dao TQ, Nguyen CK, Traissac P, Ha HK. Efficacité de la supplémentation en fer quotidienne et hebdomadaire pour le contrôle de l'anémie chez le nourrisson en milieu rural au Vietnam. Cahiers Santé 2002; 12: 31-37.

Diagne I, Fall AL, Diagne-Gueye NR, Dème Ly I, Lopez Sall P, Faye CE, et al. Anémies hypochromes microcytaires en pédiatrie : fréquence et réponse au traitement martial. Étude chez les enfants suivis en ambulatoire au centre hospitalier national d’enfants Albert Royer de Dakar au Sénégal. J Pédiatr Puéricult 2010; 23: 119-24.

Atanda HL, Bon JC, Force-Barge P, Porte J, Rodier J. Contribution à l’étude de la prévalence de l’anémie chez l’enfant en milieu tropical. Med Afr Noire 1997; 44: 1-5.

Nutrition for health and development. A global agenda for combating malnutrition. Geneva: WHO 2000; pp. 16-17.

Berger J, Dillon JC. Stratégies de contrôle de la carence en fer dans les pays en développement. Cahiers Santé 2000; 12: 22-30.

Archambeaud-Breton MP, Dommergues JP, Ducot B, Rossignol C, Yvart J, Tchernia G. Reevaluation of the utility of mean cell haemoglobin (MCH) screening of infants for iron deficiency. Nouv Rev Fr Hematol 989; 31: 307-9.

Navarro JF, Macia ML. Hypochromie red cells as an indicator of iron deficiency. J Rheumatol 1997; 24: 804-5.

Dupont C. Protein Requirements during the first year of life. Am J Clin Nutr 2003; 77(6): 1544s-9s.

Hercberg S. La carence en fer chez l’enfant. J Pédiatr Puéricult 1992; (7): 393-7.

Downloads

Published

2013-02-28

How to Cite

Diouf, S., Sylla, A., Diop, F., Diallo, A., & Sarr, M. (2013). Anemia among Apparently Healthy Senegalese Children Aged 9-15 Months . International Journal of Child Health and Nutrition, 2(1), 9–14. https://doi.org/10.6000/1929-4247.2013.02.01.2

Issue

Section

General Articles

Most read articles by the same author(s)