ASSESSMENT OF IMPACT OF WEEKLY IRON FOLIC ACID SUPPLEMENTATION PROGRAMME AMONGST SCHOOL GOING ADOLESCENTS IN BHOPAL, MADHYA PRADESHA LONGITUDINAL STUDY

Abstract

Background: WHO estimates the number of anemic people worldwide to be a staggering two billion with approximately 50% of all anemia attributable to iron deficiency[1]. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has launched the Weekly Iron and Folic Acid
Supplementation (WIFS) Programme in 2012 in India to combat the high prevalence and incidence of anemia among adolescents[4]
. So this study was planned to assess impact of Weekly Iron Folic acid Supplementation programme (WIFS) amongst adolescents in selected government schools of Bhopal district.
Materials and Methods: This is a Longitudinal community based study done after ethical committee approval, in randomly selected government schools of Bhopal (M.P.), India.
Results: At baseline prevalence of anemia is 32.8% among boys and 57.4% among girls. At follow up prevalence of anemia is 30.5% among boys and 55.8% among girls. At baseline prevalence of mild, moderate and severe anemia was 18.8%, 10.2% and 3.9% in males
respectively and prevalence of mild, moderate and severe anemia was 36.4%, 14% and 7% in females respectively. At follow up prevalence of mild, moderate and severe anemia was 19.5%, 7.8% and 3.2% in males respectively and prevalence of mild, moderate and severe anemia was 38.8%, 11.6% and 5.4% in females respectively. At baseline mean hemoglobin among 257 study participants was 11.895 ± 1.6564 mg/dl and at follow up visit at the end of three months mean hemoglobin level was 12.123 ± 1.5928 mg/dl with mean rise in hemoglobin was 0.2 ± 0.24mg/dl. All these findings were found to be statistically significant.
Conclusion: Weekly iron–folic acid (IFA) supplementation combined with deworming biannually is a feasible and cost effective intervention for the prevention of anemia in adolescents in institutional settings. The importance of the IFA tablets and albendazole tablets in the prevention of iron deficiency anemia is needed to be educated by information, education and communication by social media also