The prevalence of iron deficiency and the associated factors in children aged 6-59 months in central equatoria state, Juba- south Sudan

Abstract

The general objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of iron deficiency and the associated factors in children aged 6-59 months in south Sudan’s Central Equatoria state in Juba. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 243 children in the period between August and September 2012 to assess the nutritional and iron status of the children using anthropometric measurements. The iron status was determined by measuring Haemoglobin concentration using a hemocue and the values represented as severe, moderate and or mild. The average house hold size was found to be 8.5 with 78.2% of the households in a monogamous marriage. Up to 43.4% of the respondents had completed secondary school, and 11.2% were illiterate. Findings showed that 79.7% of the children had low HB levels with a mean Hb of 9.6g/dl. The prevalence of severe anemia was 4.1%, moderate 51.2% and mild anemia 24.4%. The prevalence of wasting was 10.5% while underweight was 15.4% of whom 4.6% were severely underweight while 10.8% were mildly underweight. Most of the children in the study were introduced to complementary foods as early as 4 months of age with Exclusive breastfeeding practiced by only 22.3%, although 92.1% of the children were given the first milk (colostrum). 57.7% of the complementary food used was cereal porridge, (21.6%) milk, (15.8%) soup, (2.1%) juice, and 2.1%) used water as the first food introduced to their babies. 97% of the children had received the full immunization recommended for their ages. 57.3% of the surveyed children reported to have experienced one or more signs of illness in the past two weeks preceding the survey date with diarrhea and cough ranking the highest with a prevalence of 22.7% each. 97.8% of the households consumed cereals as the main food and fruits the least consumed