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Top1. Introduction
Based on reported statistics of world health organization (WHO), anemia, the most common ailment related to nutrition in the world today, is affecting an average of 56% of women in developing countries and 18% of women in developed countries (Stevens et al., 2013). In India, one of the rapidly developing countries, for example, anemia accounts for 20% of maternal deaths, making it the second common cause of maternal mortality (Black et al., 2008). During pregnancy, anemia can readily lead to low birth weight of infant, augmented danger of premature delivery, and mother-child mortality (Walker et al., 2007).
Lopez et al. (2016) note that major symptoms of anemia include a lower amount of red blood count (RBC) and iron deficiency. While many health ministries of developing countries have instituted policies to provide pregnant women with iron and vitamin supplements (Galloway et al., 2002), due to inadequate medicine and basic healthcare setups, these strategies have often been unsuccessful in reaching out to isolated areas (Khambalia et al., 2011). India’s national program, for example, is focused on the prevention and control of anemia in pregnant women and young children below the age of five. Moreover, the same program is also designed to cover people living in the low-income (mainly rural) areas, where there is a scarcity of fortified foods.
Yet, the national reports do not provide a clear picture of the status of anemia in children residing in those areas, just general information related to stunting and underweight, which is accessible from the nation’s database. One study conducted in the rural Barabanki district of Uttar Pradesh, for instance, surveyed 1200 preschool children (3-5 years of age) has concluded that 70% of these children has been reported to be anemic (Awasthi et al., 2003). Even so, while these children are supposedly covered under the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS), where an auxiliary nurse midwife has been assigned to distribute iron and folic acid, costing about twenty-five (25) Indian rupees per recipient per annum, the daily ingestion from complementary foods among children aged 12 to 23 months has indicated only 11.7% of the level recommended (Gaillard et al., 2014).