SP6-4 The epidemiology of the haemoglobin level among resettlement population in mannar district of Sri Lanka

Introduction Sri Lanka9s conflict that has been escalating since January 2009 has come to an end. The resettlement process in continuing and has reached the last stages with the majority of the IDPs being resettled. Anaemia is a global public health problem affecting both developing and developed countries with major consequences for human health as well as social and economic development. No study of the levels of haemoglobin in the Northern Province has been published. Objective Our main objective was to estimate anaemia prevalence among the resettled population of the Mannar district. Methodology The district of Mannar is situated in the Northern Province Sri Lanka. Study was carried out in Adampan public health midwife (PHM) area, Vidatalativu East PHM and Vidatalativu West PHM area. These areas were randomly selected PHM areas from the resettlement areas in Mannar. Sample size was selected as a 25% of the population. Simple random sampling method was done, house holds were randomised. Two members were invited from each house hold. Results There are 87 participants from all three areas. 48 (55%) were females. 15 (17%) were children. In our study we found 79% (n=27, 95% CI 11.6 to 12.7, SD 1.58) of men are anaemic and 60% (n=23, 95% CI 11.0 to 12.0, SD 1.4) of women are anaemic. In children 53% (n=8, 95% CI 10.6 to 12.3, SD 1.54) of them are anaemic. Conclusions According to the previous studies in Sri Lanka this small study shows very high prevalence of anaemia among these resettled populations.