F&N Bulletin Vol 23 No 1b - United Nations University

Iron-deficiency anemia in young working women
and for “making the blood strong.”
In unit 4, the negative control, there was no increase
in hemoglobin. However, there were significant gains
in knowledge regarding the causes and consequences
of iron-deficiency anemia even though no intervention
was given. The questions asked in the presurvey had
made the women in unit 4 curious enough to seek
information on iron-deficiency anemia.
Impact on anemia
The prevalences of the different grades of anemia
in the women before and after the interventions are
shown in table 8. Severe anemia (hemoglobin < 7 g/dl)
was totally eliminated in all the four groups, even in
unit 4 (negative control). After some probing in unit
4, at the postsurvey, it emerged that the women had
sought medical intervention and had been prescribed
Matrae tablets containing iron by the lady doctor.
Moderate anemia (hemoglobin 7 to 9.9 g/dl) was also
virtually eliminated in units 1, 2, and 3, but increased
101
from 23% to 30% (significant at p < .05) in unit 4.
Mild anemia (hemoglobin 10 to 11.9 g/dl) was also
significantly reduced in units 1, 2, and 3.
The impact of the supervised iddli intervention
plus IEC on anemia is summarized in table 9. The mean
total number of iddlis eaten over six months did not
vary much from the severely anemic subjects (hemoglobin
< 7 g/dl) to the normal subjects (hemoglobin
12 g/dl). The range was 224 to 283. However, the intervention
had a striking effect on the severely anemic
subjects, whose mean hemoglobin level increased by
5.0 g/dl. The moderately anemic subjects (hemoglobin
7 to 9.9 g/dl) had a mean increase of 2.4 g/dl, the mildly
anemic (hemoglobin 10 to 11.9 g/dl) had an increase
of 1.3 g/dl, and those who had normal hemoglobin
values (12 g/dl) had a decrease of 0.60 g/dl. Overall,
the increase in hemoglobin was 1.20 g/dl (11.10 to
12.30 g/dl).
Comparison of the effects of the intervention on
unmarried working women, who generally did not
have access to a kitchen, and on married working
TABLE 8. Prevalence (%) of different grades of anemia before and after intervention
Unit 2: Unit 3: medicinal Unit 4:
Unit 1: iddli gooseberry supplements negative control
(n = 72) juice (n = 80) (n = 70) (n = 80)
Anemia Before After Before After Before After Before After
Severe (< 7 g/dl) 1 0 3 0 3 0 3 0
Moderate (7–9.9 g/dl) 29 1 21 1 0 3 23 30*
Mild (10–11.9 g/dl) 40 32*** 45 25*** 53 10*** 55 50*NS
Normal (≥12 g/dl) 30 67*** 31 74*** 44 87*** 20 20*NS
* p < .05; *** p < .001; NS, not significant.
TABLE 9. Impact of the supervised iddli intervention and severity of anemia before and after intervention (n = 72)
Change in
Indicator Before After hemoglobin level
Per worker
Mean no. of iddlis eaten over 6 mo 121 121 + 156 = 277
Overall mean hemoglobin (g/dl)(n = 72) 11.1 ± 2.1 12.3 ± 1.0 *** + 1.20
Severely anemic women (hemoglobin < 7 g/dl)
Mean no. of iddlis eaten over 6 mo 204 204 + 156 =360
Mean hemoglobin of the group (g/dl)(n = 1) 5.7 10.7*** + 5.00
Moderately anemic women (hemoglobin 7–9.9 g/dl)
Mean no. of iddlis eaten over 6 mo 114 156 + 114 = 270
Mean hemoglobin of the group (g/dl)(n = 21) 8.9 ± 0.7 11.3 ± 0.9*** + 2.50
Mildly anemic women (hemoglobin 10–11.9 g/dl)
Mean no. of iddlis eaten over 6 mo 127 156 + 127 = 283
Mean hemoglobin of the group (g/dl)(n = 29) 11.0 ± 0.6 12.3 ± 0.6*** + 1.69
Normal women (hemoglobin ≥ 12 g/dl)
Mean no. of iddlis eaten over 6 mo 114 156 + 114 = 270
Mean hemoglobin of the group (g/dl)(n = 21) 13.8 ± 0.9 13.2 ± 0.6* – 0.60
* p < .05; *** p < .001.