Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2023 Sep 18;23(1):1814.
doi: 10.1186/s12889-023-16611-w.

Factors associated with anemia among school-going adolescents aged 10-17 years in Zanzibar, Tanzania: a cross sectional study

Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Factors associated with anemia among school-going adolescents aged 10-17 years in Zanzibar, Tanzania: a cross sectional study

Innocent Yusufu et al. BMC Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: Anemia among adolescents (ages 10-19 years) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in low- and middle-income countries and carries long-term health and economic consequences. To address the issue, policymakers and programmers require evidence of the burden of anemia among adolescents in specific contexts, as well as an understanding of the factors associated with anemia in this population.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional survey as a baseline assessment to determine the prevalence and factors associated with anemia in secondary school students, as part of a cluster-randomized effectiveness trial testing different micronutrient supplementation strategies in addressing anemia among adolescents in Zanzibar. Between March 7th to 25th, 2022 the survey was conducted on 2,479 school-going adolescents aged 10-17 years from 42 schools on the island of Zanzibar, Tanzania. Hemoglobin concentration was measured along with the collection of socio-demographics, health, food frequency, and water, sanitation and hygiene data.

Results: Based on the World Health Organization cutoffs for anemia, 53.3% of the sample had anemia (mild, moderate, or severe). Using chi-square tests and logistic regressions, we determined that females had higher odds of anemia than males (Adjusted OR = 1.47; 95% CI: 1.24, 1.74), those in the highest wealth quintile had lower odds of anemia than those in the lowest wealth quintile (Adjusted OR = 0.7; CI: 0.54, 0.91), stunted adolescents had higher odds of anemia than non-stunted students (Adjusted OR = 1.38; 95% CI: 1.06,1.81), and those who used shared toilets had higher odds of moderate or severe anemia than those with private toilet access (Adjusted OR = 1.68; CI: 1.07, 2.64).

Conclusions: The high prevalence of anemia in this sample indicates an urgent need to address anemia among adolescents in Zanzibar, and the factors associated with anemia point to the importance of water, sanitation, and hygiene interventions in addition to dietary and nutritional support.

Trial registration: NCT05104554, registered 03/11/2021.

Keywords: Adolescents; Anemia; Folic acid; Iron; Micronutrient deficiency; Multiple micronutrients; Nutrition.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Achieving universal coverage [Internet]. 2022 [cited 2022 Dec 4]. Available from: https://www.who.int/teams/maternal-newborn-child-adolescent-health-and-a....
    1. WHO, Adolescent. and young adult health [Internet]. 2022 [cited 2022 Aug 17]. Available from: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/adolescents-health-risk....
    1. UNICEF DATA [Internet]. 2022 [cited 2022 Dec 4]. Adolescents Statistics. Available from: https://data.unicef.org/topic/adolescents/overview/.
    1. Health TLC& A The hidden crisis of adolescent nutrition. The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health. 2022;6(1):1. doi: 10.1016/S2352-4642(21)00381-3. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Gebreyesus SH, Endris BS, Beyene GT, Farah AM, Elias F, Bekele HN. Anaemia among adolescent girls in three districts in Ethiopia. BMC Public Health. 2019;19(1):92. doi: 10.1186/s12889-019-6422-0. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

Associated data