Prevalence and knowledge regarding anemia among adolescents’ girls in selected senior secondary schools, distt Faridkot, Punjab

One of the most influential figures in the world today is an adolescent girl. Adolescents in India, account for one-fifth of the total population. Iron deficiency anemia is a very common nutritional problem. Adolescent girls are more vulnerable to iron deficiency and anemia due to increased requirement of iron.

Aim of the study as to assess the knowledge and prevalence of anemia among adolescent girls in district Faridkot Punjab.

A descriptive study was conducted on 300 adolescent girls selected by purposive sampling at Govt. Girls Senior secondary school Sadiq and Machaki Kalan in district Faridkot, Punjab. A structured Knowledge questionnaire was given to assess knowledge and Sahli's Method was used for assessment of hemoglobin level.

The findings of the study revealed that (58%) adolescent girls had adequate knowledge and (42%) adolescent girls had inadequate knowledge regarding anemia with mean knowledge score 15.48. The prevalence of anemia among adolescent girls was (77.63%) out of these 50.33% adolescents had moderate anemia while 25.30% adolescents had mild anemia (WHO classification). The relationship between knowledge score and prevalence of anemia comes out to be statistically significant.

There was significant difference between Knowledge and prevalence of anemia. Thus, adolescent girls must be educated about balanced diet including iron rich diet and urgent steps are needed to improve the awareness and early prevention, detection and treatment of anemia among adolescent girls.