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. 2024 Dec 28;10(1):166.
doi: 10.1186/s40795-024-00982-3.

Dietary quality, anaemia prevalence and their associated factors among rural school- going adolescents in Acholi sub -region of Uganda

Gloria Adokorach  1 , Sunday Mark Oyet  1 , Gerald Obai  2 , Christopher Muggaga  3
Affiliations

Dietary quality, anaemia prevalence and their associated factors among rural school- going adolescents in Acholi sub -region of Uganda

Gloria Adokorach et al. BMC Nutr. .

Abstract

Background: Globally, iron deficiency anaemia is a widespread public health problem affecting vulnerable populations including adolescents. However, over the years, the Uganda Demographic Health Surveys mostly report the status of anaemia for women of reproductive age (15-49 years) and children up to 5 years, leaving out the focus on adolescents. Moreover, high prevalence of anaemia among children below five years could suggest that anaemia still persists at adolescence. Therefore, the study aimed at determining dietary quality, prevalence of anaemia and their associated factors among school-going adolescents.

Methods: A cross-sectional study involving 341 adolescent boys and girls aged 10-19 years was carried out in two rural schools in Gulu district. Prevalence of anaemia was determined by obtaining blood specimens from a finger prick into a microcuvette and analysed for haemoglobin (Hb) level using Haemoglobin analyser, whereas dietary quality was assessed using the Individual Dietary Diversity Score (IDDS). Socio-economic and demographic data were collected using a semi-structured questionnaire.

Results: The overall prevalence of anaemia was 16.0% (Girls:18.1%; Boys:13.0%), while the mean Hb level was 13.2 ± 1.4 g/dl (Girls 13.0 ± 1.3 g/dl; Boys 13.5 ± 1.6 g/dl). The mean number of food groups consumed among the adolescents was 3.5 ± 2.1 for girls and 3.0 ± 1.8 for boys (p˃0.05). Animal source foods, fruits and vitamin A-rich vegetables, other fruits and vegetables were consumed by adolescent girls more than the boys. Similarly, a higher proportion of adolescent girls than boys consumed iron-rich foods: fish and meat, organ meat and dark green leafy vegetables. Further, all the socio-demographic factors in the study did not predict dietary diversity (p ˃ 0.05). On the other hand, education attainment by parent/guardian and nature of menstruation predicted the prevalence of anaemia amongst adolescents (p < 0.05).

Conclusions: The prevalence of anaemia was high among adolescents. Coupled with this, there, was low dietary diversity among the adolescents. The level of education of the parent/guardian and nature of the menstrual discharge were significant predictors of anaemia amongst girls. From this study, we recommend interventions by both health and agricultural-related practitioners to strengthen activities in rural schools such as health and nutrition education to create awareness about dietary diversity and promotion of agricultural practices such as school vegetable gardens, orchards poultry production and rearing of small ruminants to support consumption of diverse foods in schools with the view of reducing the burden from iron deficiency anaemia.

Keywords: Adolescents; Anaemia; Dietary diversity; Dietary iron adequacy; Gulu; Iron intake; Uganda.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: Ethical clearance to conduct this study was obtained from the Gulu University Research Ethics Committee (GUREC) (No. GUREC-052–19) at Gulu University, Gulu City. GUREC was officially recognized with full accreditation bestowed by the Uganda National Council for Science and Technology (UNCST) in 2015. Furthermore, the committee earned accreditation from the Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP) in the United States, with the designation IRB No. IRB00010381. Administrative clearance was also obtained from the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) of Gulu district and the school administration. Informed consent was obtained from all the adolescents 18 years and above, and from the parents/legal guardians for adolescent younger than 18 years. Consent for publication: Not applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
A map of Gulu district (2022) showing the research sub-counties
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Proportion of adolescent girls and boys that consumed iron rich foods in the previous 24 h
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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