46 pc girls under 15 years are anaemic in India: Study

New Delhi [India], January 26 : Data Analytics Report based on results conducted on haemoglobin samples received from January 2015 till November 2021 showed that 46 per cent of girl children below 15 years were anaemic.
Over 13 per cent of the samples tested were found severely anaemic.
A total of 8,57,003 samples of girls were tested by SRL Diagnostics in a span of seven years.
According to the National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-(III), more than half of women in India (55 per cent) have anaemia. In India, 55 per cent of adolescent girls are anaemic. The prevalence of anaemia in all the groups is higher in India as compared to other developing countries.
Among all the states, Assam is the worst affected with 72 per cent of married women being anaemic, followed by Haryana (69.7 per cent) and Jharkhand (68.4 per cent).
Anaemia is a condition in which there is decreased number of circulating red blood cells or haemoglobin contained therein and is the most prevalent nutritional deficiency disorder in the world.
Statistics show that every second woman is anaemic and one in every five maternal deaths is directly due to anaemia. "In India, severe anaemia prevalence tends to be less than 3 per cent, moderate ranges from 5 to 20 per cent, and mild from 25 to 44 per cent," the report stated.
Speaking on the data study Anand K, CEO, SRL Diagnostics said, "Prevalence of anaemia in all the groups is higher in India as compared to other developing countries. Mitigating anaemia in India needs a multi-level approach that includes a high level of awareness building, behaviour change communication and challenging societal norms related to women nutrition and health needs."
Dr Anurag Bansal, Technical Director, SRL Diagnostics said, "Diagnosing the root cause of anaemia is very important. While predominantly anaemia is caused due to iron deficiency or a deficiency in vitamin B12, there could be other reasons for anaemia that needs to be investigated."
A zone-wise analysis of samples showed that the East zone showed the highest percentage of anaemia (70%) among all zones. The trend across age groups among different zones are more or less similar other than the age group of 12 to 14.9 in East and South zones, where the percentage of mild anaemia was either similar to or more than moderate anaemia.
Dr Aditya S Chowti, Senior Consultant, Internal Medicine, Fortis Hospital said, "We must comprehend why these states (Assam, Haryana, Jharkhand) were highlighted. Anaemia levels in these three states increased by over 50 per cent between 2016 and 2019, according to comparative studies. Looking into it, the government implemented a programme called Anaemia Mukt Bharat, in which they attempted to focus on all variables that cause anaemia, particularly in these three states, demonstrating that there were both nutritional and non-nutritional causes. Some diseases, such as Flurososis, were endemic in these three states, resulting in a higher rate of anaemia."
Globally, anaemia affects 1.62 billion people, which corresponds to 24.8 per cent of the population.