Discussion Committee:
Dr. Ayman Hussein - Supervisor
Dr. Riad Amer - Internal Examiner
Dr. Hisham Darwish - External Examiner
Abstract:
Anemia is one of the most common and intractable nutritional problems in the world today. It has consequences on human health, social and economic development. WHO estimates that approximately two billion people are anemic.The most common cause of anemia is Iron deficiency, an advanced stage of iron depletion. It occurs when storage sites of iron are depleted and blood levels of iron cannot meet daily needs. In Palestine iron deficiency anemia represents one of the most serious public health problems, In 2003, Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics reported that 37.9% of children aged 6-59 months were anemic, however, prevalence of Iron deficiency anemia among school children was limited. This study was conducted in the second semester of the academic year 2008 to investigate the Prevalence of Iron Deficiency Anemia among Primary School Children in Qalqilia City. The study sample consisted of 178 students (87 male students, 91 female students). Blood samples and questionnaire were collected through school visits.Complete Blood Count (CBC), ferritin test and iron test were conducted on allcollected samples. All data from the questionnaire and blood tests were analyzed using SPSS software. One Way ANOVA Test was used for correlation between IDA and all relevant environmental factors.Samples with hemoglobin < 11.5 g/dl, MCV< 80 FL and Serum iron <60 μg/dl or Serum ferritin <12 μg/l were considered iron deficiency anemia. Among the 178 students tested between 6-12 years old, 36% where with iron deficiency, 31.5% ID without anemia and 4.5% IDA. Prevalence of other anemia was 5%.
The results showed no statistically significant difference between IDA and Children age, parents income, parents job, for father and mother education that was statistically significant. Regarding eating habits, the result showed the relation between IDA prevalence and the following food item were not statistically significant: Spinach , Liver and meat, Soft drinks, Milk.
while natural fruit juice, chips , Falafel were statistically significant. The data about that Taking tea with meals, directly or one hour or more after meals the result show affects IDA prevalence.Taking Breakfast daily has no effect on IDA prevalence while the number of meals during a day present an effect on IDA prevalence.The result showed the relation between IDA prevalence and all symptoms of the disease are statistically significant.In conclusion, prevalence of iron deficiency is high among school children , to face this problem, there should be a program carried by government specially Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health targeted both of children and their parentsdirectly and through varian public mediaapproaches. Programs should focus on the nutritional and behaviaral needs of this children groups, such as comprehensive iron supplementation programs.