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[PDF] Community and Public Health Nutrition

   

Added on  2021-05-27

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Running head:COMMUNITY AND PUBLIC HEALTH NUTRITIONQuestion 1Iron deficiency in IndiaBackgroundIron is an important micronutrient that is essential for the continuation of differentfunctions of the body (Challa & Amirapu, 2016). It is essential for the differentiation and thecellular growth, transport, oxygen binding, storage and transport, immune functions, cognitivefunction, physical and mental growth (More et al., 2013). Iron deficiency has been a majorpublic problem in most of the developing countries like India. Iron deficiency occurs when thebody does not have enough mineral iron. Mineral iron can be found in food sources such as redmeat, fish and poultry. Prevalence

COMMUNITY AND PUBLIC HEALTH NUTRITION1Iron deficiency is mostly caused in women and children, of whom adolescent girls are themajor victims, however the adolescent boys have also been screened with iron deficiency inIndia growth (More et al., 2013). The prevalence of Iron deficiency in India among theadolescent girls is 68.9 % and that of those within the age 20 -40 years is 69.7 % (Kumari et al.,2017). The high prevalence of Anemia among the Indians leads to 1.8 % loss of the country’sGross domestic product (GDP).As estimated by World Bank, India can face a loss of GDP up to$20.25 billion in 2017 (Kumari et al., 2017). Target groupChildren, Adolescence boys and girls, pregnant women. DeterminantsThe leading cause of Iron deficiency in India is due to the poverty, caste factors and poorsanitation. A vegetarian diet can also be linked to high iron deficiency. As per the researches,animal based diet are more absorbable than the plant based diet. The daily Iron requirement foran adolescent girl is 0.8 mg/1000 Kcal of dietary energy, which is not met in most of the cases(Challa & Amirapu, 2016). There are several direct determinants for iron deficiency, which canbe due to the insufficient dietary intake or iron absorption, heavy loss of blood due tomenstruation, parasitic infestation and increased demand during the adolescence. In childrenover three years and above the family income becomes the factor with its influence over thehemoglobin level (More et al., 2013). Impact of health on people with iron deficiency

COMMUNITY AND PUBLIC HEALTH NUTRITION2Iron deficiency anemia is the leading cause of disability in India. Iron deficiency anemiareduces the working capacity of an individual and the entire population that can bring aboutserious consequences and hurdles to national development according to WHO. According toAnand et al., (2014), iron deficiency has brought about 17 % of the loss of productivity amongthe workers who remain engaged in heavy physical activity. 5 % in those engaged in moderatephysical activities, in India growth (Anand et al., 2014).It is also responsible for the cognitive deficient caused in malnourished children (Anandet al., 2014). Since Iron deficiency mostly affects children and women, its impact can be bestunderstood by looking at the maternal deaths as per the 2014 study published in Nutrition. Irondeficiency during pregnancy augments the chance of fetal abnormalities, mortalities, preterm andunderweight baby’s growth.In children, iron deficiency causes impairment of the language skills, motor skills amongthe infants and the young children and has been related to a deficit of 5 to 10 points as per theintelligent quotient. Iron deficiency has also been found to impact the immune system, thusincreasing the chance of inflammatory diseases and infections (Kumari et al., 2017).Effectiveness of the current and the past approachesIndia has adopted the National Nutritional Anemia Prophylaxis Program (NNAPP) since1970 to fight with anemia ("IFA supplementation - National Nutritional Anemia Prophylaxisprogram- India, 2018). Weekly and monthly program of iron and folic acid tablets to theadolescent girls and the boys were being given from schools. They are screened for moderate tosevere anemia ensuring nutritional assessment and counselling. However as indicated by the

COMMUNITY AND PUBLIC HEALTH NUTRITION3public health experts, provision of iron tablets to the women are not working as true solutions,instead It has been found that only 23.7% of the pregnant women have consumed the folate orthe iron tablets provided to them out of those who have received them ("Iron Deficiency Anemia| National Health Portal Of India", 2018). Most of the women have reported that there are severalside effects of the iron tablets, like vomiting, diarrhea and vomiting, that has attributed towardsthe discontinuation of the iron tablets.Current approachesThe Indian government has allocated $ 5.5 billion to the nutritional schemes, such asprovision of iron rich food in the mid –day meals at schools for the children and the adolescentgirls and boys. During the immunization sessions the health care workers are making sure tohand over the iron tablets (Anand et al., 2014). Currently the mid- day meal Scheme (MDMS) isthe largest school lunch program in India. This initiative was taken by the Indian government,not only for controlling the school dropouts but also for providing nutritious food to the schoolgoers and acted as a supplement for the home meal ("School Education | Government of India,Ministry of Human Resource Development", 2018).Some of the other programs that has been launched to control the iron deficiency includesthe Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) ("ICDS Scheme", 2018); involving thechildren suffering from iron deficiency, Matri Suraksha Abhiyan, "Anemia- Chale jao- nischay".As per the health survey conducted by the department of health, the iron deficiency percentagehas reduced by 12 % in the year 2017, which indicates that the initiatives had been effective butshould be scaled up for getting even more better results. Data gaps

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