Abstract:
Background: Childhood anemia, a hemoglobin concentration less than 11 g/dl, is multi-factorial
health problem among 6 to 59 months’ children that causes significant morbidity and mortality.
Although anemia among children is found to be strongly associated with short- and long-term
problems, there is scarcity of data on its magnitude and associated factors in eastern Ethiopia.
Objective: To assess the prevalence of anemia and its associatedfactors among 6 to 59 months’
children attending public health facilities in DireDawa eastern Ethiopia.
Methods: A cross-sectional facility-based study was conducted on 421 randomly selected 6 to
59 months’ children vistiting selected public facilities in Dire Dawa from May 15 to June 30,
2020. A pre-tested and structured questionnaire was used to collect data on socio-demographic
conditions, nutritional behavior from the mother/care giver followed by anthropometric and
hemoglobin measurement of the children. Capillary blood was obtained for measurement of
hemoglobin using HemoCue Hb301. Data were entered to EpiData 3.1 and exported to SPSS 25
for analysis. Crude and adjusted odds ratio was computed to idetfiy factors associated with
anemia P-value < 0.05 was considered as statistically significant association.
Results: The prevalence of anemia among 6 to 59 months’ children was 48.8% (95% CI:
44.0%,53.6%)., About 40.9%, 51.7%, and 7.4 anemic children had mild, moderate, and severe
types of anemia, respectively. Males (AOR=2.87; 95% :1.69, 4.89), stunted (AOR=2.54; 95%:
CI: 1.35,4.79), children with the family having more than one under five children (AOR = 4.21;
95% CI: 2.42,7.34) and children who counsumed less than four types of foods (AOR=11.88; 95%
CI: 6.62-21.31) were more likely to develop anemia than their counterparts. On the other hand,
the odds of developing of anemia was 68% (AOR=0.32; 95% CI: 0.16 -0.66) and 80%
(AOR=0.23 95% CI: 0.08-066) less likely among the children 24-35 months old and children
whose mothers were 24-35 years old, respectively.
Conclusion: Close to half of children visiting public health facilities in Dire Dawahad anemia.
Being male, stunting, having more under five children in the household, and less intake of
diversified food were associated with having anemia. Thusintervation like healthe education and
nuterational support for parentes /care givers should be strengthened
