Pregnancy Anemia in India: A Comprehensive Analysis and Strategies

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of pregnancy anemia in India, a significant public health issue. It begins by defining anemia and outlining its causes, including iron deficiency, and its impact on maternal and child health outcomes. The report presents epidemiological data on the prevalence of anemia in India, examining factors such as age, education, occupation, parity, and dietary habits. It then explores various strategies for managing and preventing anemia, including iron supplementation programs, awareness campaigns, and community-based interventions. The report also discusses the importance of monitoring and evaluation to assess the effectiveness of these interventions and proposes recommendations for improving existing programs and addressing the specific needs of pregnant women in India. The document references various studies and surveys, including the NFHS-3 survey, to support its findings and recommendations.

Pregnancy Anaemia in India
The 2nd most common cause of maternal deaths in India
(reference)
Definition
“The Quantitative or qualitative reduction of Haemoglobin (Hb) or
circulating the RBCs or both resulted in decreased level of oxygen carrying
capacity of the body” (Chowdhury, Rahman & Moniruddin, 2014)
WHO
- Haemoglobin (Hb) content less than 11gm/dl & hematocrit <33%
- Postpartum haemoglobin less than 100gm/dl
CDC definition
- Hb < 11gm/dl- 1st and 3rd trimesters
- <10..5gm/dl- 2nd trimesters

Objectives
• Target- pregnant women
• Setting-India
• Interpret needs-using
epidemiological, qualitative,
quantitative
• Prevalence - to identify mortality
morbidity rates
• Strategies-to reduce inequalities
• Actions-specific to national ,state,
community level
• Evaluation of intervention
• Conclusion

Pregnancy Anaemia
Cause of:
• Premature birth
• Cardiac failure of the mother
• Abruption
• Maternal deaths
• Stillbirths of babies
• Preeclampsia
• Reduces the tolerating power of bleeding during the child birth.
• Uterine atony
• Infections
• Behavioural abnormalities
• Adult onset HTN
• Low birthweight
• Cognitive dysfunction (World Health Organisation, 2016).

Burden of disease
• In the period between 1995 and 2011, pregnancy anemia
was the leading cause of about 68.4 million years of deaths
and disability (YLD) among women globally (Siddiqui et al.,
2017).
• It results in adverse affects on both the child and maternal
health outcomes right from low birth weight, Preeclampsia,
cognitive dysfunction, neonatal, maternal mortality etc.

Causes of Pregnancy Anaemia
(Anand et al., 2014
Nutritional
Anaemia
• 1. B12
deficiency
• 2. Folate
deficiency
• 3. Iron
deficiency
Haematologi
cal
conditions
• 1.
Thalasaemia
• 2. Leukemia
• 3. Sickle cell
disease
Infections
• 1. Malaria
• 2. HIV
Chronic
blood Loss
• 1. GI
Bleeding
• 2.
Haemorroids
Short birth
intervals

Rates of
Pregnan
cy
anaemia
in India
In India, about 20% of the total maternal
deaths are because of Anemia (Anand et
al., 2014).
80% of the maternal death due to
pregnancy anaemia (Chowdhury,
Rahman & Moniruddin, 2014).
About 50.4% of pregnant women were
found to be Anemic in the year 2016 in
India as per the report of NFHS

Distribution of Anaemia in India
•Age, Education and occupation
•Parity
•Vegetarian and mixed diet (Rajamouli et
al., 2016).

Distribution of Anaemia by age, education and
occupation

Distribution of Anaemia by Parity
Distribution of Anaemia by Vegetarian and
Mixed diet

Vicious circle of Anaemia in
Indian womenPoverty |
malnutrition
Gender
bias in
educati
on
Poor spacing |
early
marriages
Anaemi
c
mothers
Anaemi
c babies
Parasite
s

Variations across the country
(Kaur, 2014)

Variations across the world
(Melku et al., 2014)