Determinants of anemia in children under five years in Angola, Malawi and Senegal: A comparative study

Abstract

Background: Anemia is defined as a condition where there is an insufficient quantity of homoglobin, hematocrit or red cell in the human body [1, 2]. Unicef (2017) report urged all countries to reduce under ve years mortality by 2030, thereof there is a need of understanding and determining factors contributing to child mortality. The significance of this study underpins the improvement in collaboration among the three countries and recommend to government the area to invest in order to meet the SDG target.Method: The current study used demographic health survey data from Angola (2016), Malawi (2016) and Senegal (2016). Using World Health Organisation (WHO) classification guidelines of anemia, the ordinal dependent variable was developed. The three categories of anemia condition used in this study are Mild (10.0 - 10.9 g/dl), Moderate (7.0 - 9.9 g/dl) and severe (<7 g/dl). Results: Gamma measure and chi-square test of independence was conducted to explore the association between anemia status and factors. The score test and Brant test were used to test the proportional odds model assumption and it was satisfied.Results from ordinal survey logistic regression model found place of residence, age of the child, wealth index, mother level of education and nutritional status to be significant factors associated with anemic condition of under five year children in all three countries. Discussion: The health institutions of Angola, Malawi and Senegal need to monitor under five years children that are suffering from malnutrition condition. The study showed that there is a high chance for under five years children to suffer from both malnutrition and anemia condition. This finding is similar to the results of the study that was conducted in Bangladesh and Burma [27, 28].Conclusion: The study identifieed place of residence, age of the child, wealth index, mother level of education and nutritional status as common factors associated with anemia in Angola, Malawi and Senegal. This nding is in agreement with that of the studies conducted by [27, 26, 36]. The results showed the necessity of collaboration between Angola, Malawi and Senegal in order to achieve the SGD target.