Prevalence and Predictors of Anaemia Among Adolescent Girls in Rural Hadero Tunto District, Southern Ethiopia: Community Based Study

Introduction: During adolescent anaemia has negative consequence on cognitive, work performance and economic productive. However, there is limited evidence on the prevalence and factors associated with anaemia among adolescent girls. Objectives: To assess the prevalence and associated factors of anaemia among rural adolescent girls in Hadero Tunto zuria district, Southern Ethiopia. Methods: A community based comparative cross-sectional study was conducted among adolescent girls 10-19 years. A total of 406 subjects were randomly selected. A structured questionnaire was used to collect the data. Blood haemoglobin level was determined from capillary blood using the Haemocue method. Data were entered into computer and analyzed using SPSS versions 20.0. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were conducted to examine the factors associated with anaemia. Result: The mean (±SD) of haemoglobin concentration adjusted for altitude was 13.7+1.2 (SD) and ranged from 8 to 16.6g/dl. Over all prevalence of anaemia was found to be 15.2% [95%CI: 11.68%, 18.72%]. Out of the total 406 adolescent girls 13.7% [95% CI: 10.33%, 17.06%] and 1.5% [95%CI: 0.3%, 2.7%] had mild and moderate anaemia, respectively. Low dietary diversity, (AOR= 10.0, 95% CI: 1.70, 60.0), long menstrual duration (AOR=5.10, 95% CI: 1.43, 18.15), malaria attack history (AOR=3.50, 95%CI: 1.40, 8.57), and less frequent consumption of legumes (AOR=3.20, 95%CI: 1.17, 8.74) were significantly associated with anaemia. Furthermore, the prevalence of stunting and thinness was 21.3% and 16.8%, respectively. Conclusion: Anaemia is a public health problem in the study area; which require integrated governmental and NGO intervention to tackle the burden; enhance dietary diversity, promote Insecticide Treated Bednets (ITNs) utilization and adolescent nutrition education are important strategies to reduce the burden of anaemia.