IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i23p12799-d695008.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Prevalence of Anaemia, Iron Deficiency, and Iron Deficiency Anaemia in Women of Reproductive Age and Children under 5 Years of Age in South Africa (1997–2021): A Systematic Review

Author

Listed:
  • Eunice Turawa

    (Burden of Disease Research Unit, South African Medical Research Council, Cape Town 7505, South Africa)

  • Oluwatoyin Awotiwon

    (Burden of Disease Research Unit, South African Medical Research Council, Cape Town 7505, South Africa)

  • Muhammad Ali Dhansay

    (Burden of Disease Research Unit, South African Medical Research Council, Cape Town 7505, South Africa
    Division of Human Nutrition, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University, Tygerberg 7505, South Africa
    Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University, Tygerberg 7505, South Africa)

  • Annibale Cois

    (Burden of Disease Research Unit, South African Medical Research Council, Cape Town 7505, South Africa
    Division of Health Systems and Public Health, Department of Global Health, Stellenbosch University, Cape Town 7505, South Africa)

  • Demetre Labadarios

    (Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University, Cape Town 7505, South Africa)

  • Debbie Bradshaw

    (Burden of Disease Research Unit, South African Medical Research Council, Cape Town 7505, South Africa
    Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Department of Family Medicine and Public Health, University of Cape Town, Cape Town 7925, South Africa)

  • Victoria Pillay-van Wyk

    (Burden of Disease Research Unit, South African Medical Research Council, Cape Town 7505, South Africa)

Abstract

Using a systematic review method, the prevalence of anaemia, iron deficiency (ID), and iron deficiency anaemia (IDA) in women of reproductive age (WRA) and children under 5 years of age was obtained to inform priorities in health planning and policy in South Africa. We searched electronic databases for articles published between 1997 and 2021. A total of 713 articles were identified, of which 14 articles comprising 9649 WRA and 4085 children were included. Since most of the included studies were of low quality, we did not pool data in a meta-analysis due to heterogeneity (I 2 > 75%). In WRA, anaemia prevalence ranged from 22.0% to 44.0%; ID from 7.7% and 19.0%; and IDA from 10.5% to 9.7%. The prevalence of anaemia in pregnancy was 29.0% to 42.7%; and 60.6% to 71.3% in HIV-infected pregnant women. Three national surveys reported anaemia in children at 28.9%, 10.7%, and 61.3%, respectively. Overall, among the children under 5 years old, anaemia was more prevalent in 1-year-olds (52.0%) compared to the other age groups. Between 2005 and 2012, ID increased by 3.8% and IDA decreased by 83.2% in children. Anaemia in WRA and children under 5 years in South Africa was a moderate public health concern. Therefore, interventions addressing anaemia should be intensified, and policies on iron supplementation and food fortification need to be revised and aligned to the WHO multiple micronutrient supplementation recommendations.

Suggested Citation

  • Eunice Turawa & Oluwatoyin Awotiwon & Muhammad Ali Dhansay & Annibale Cois & Demetre Labadarios & Debbie Bradshaw & Victoria Pillay-van Wyk, 2021. "Prevalence of Anaemia, Iron Deficiency, and Iron Deficiency Anaemia in Women of Reproductive Age and Children under 5 Years of Age in South Africa (1997–2021): A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(23), pages 1-17, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:23:p:12799-:d:695008
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/23/12799/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/23/12799/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bruno F. Sunguya & Si Zhu & Linda Simon Paulo & Bupe Ntoga & Fatma Abdallah & Vincent Assey & Rose Mpembeni & Jiayan Huang, 2020. "Regional Disparities in the Decline of Anemia and Remaining Challenges among Children in Tanzania: Analyses of the Tanzania Demographic and Health Survey 2004–2015," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(10), pages 1-15, May.
    2. Alessandro Liberati & Douglas G Altman & Jennifer Tetzlaff & Cynthia Mulrow & Peter C Gøtzsche & John P A Ioannidis & Mike Clarke & P J Devereaux & Jos Kleijnen & David Moher, 2009. "The PRISMA Statement for Reporting Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses of Studies That Evaluate Health Care Interventions: Explanation and Elaboration," PLOS Medicine, Public Library of Science, vol. 6(7), pages 1-28, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Elizabeth T Cafiero-Fonseca & Andrew Stawasz & Sydney T Johnson & Reiko Sato & David E Bloom, 2017. "The full benefits of adult pneumococcal vaccination: A systematic review," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(10), pages 1-23, October.
    2. Ludoviko Zirimenya & Fatima Mahmud-Ajeigbe & Ruth McQuillan & You Li, 2020. "A systematic review and meta-analysis to assess the association between urogenital schistosomiasis and HIV/AIDS infection," PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(6), pages 1-13, June.
    3. Trang Nguyen & Sara Holton & Thach Tran & Jane Fisher, 2019. "Informal mental health interventions for people with severe mental illness in low and lower middle-income countries: A systematic review of effectiveness," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 65(3), pages 194-206, May.
    4. Natalya Ivanova & Ekaterina Zolotova, 2023. "Landolt Indicator Values in Modern Research: A Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-22, June.
    5. Su Keng Tan & Wai Keung Leung & Alexander Tin Hong Tang & Roger A Zwahlen, 2017. "Effects of mandibular setback with or without maxillary advancement osteotomies on pharyngeal airways: An overview of systematic reviews," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(10), pages 1-20, October.
    6. Vecchio, Riccardo & Caso, Gerarda & Cembalo, Luigi & Borrello, Massimiliano, 2020. "Is respondents’ inattention in online surveys a major issue for research?," Economia agro-alimentare / Food Economy, Italian Society of Agri-food Economics/Società Italiana di Economia Agro-Alimentare (SIEA), vol. 22(1), March.
    7. Alessandro Concari & Gerjo Kok & Pim Martens, 2020. "A Systematic Literature Review of Concepts and Factors Related to Pro-Environmental Consumer Behaviour in Relation to Waste Management Through an Interdisciplinary Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-50, May.
    8. Damiano Pizzol & Mike Trott & Igor Grabovac & Mario Antunes & Anna Claudia Colangelo & Simona Ippoliti & Cristian Petre Ilie & Anne Carrie & Nicola Veronese & Lee Smith, 2021. "Laparoscopy in Low-Income Countries: 10-Year Experience and Systematic Literature Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(11), pages 1-11, May.
    9. Yehuda Weizman & Oren Tirosh & Jeanie Beh & Franz Konstantin Fuss & Sonja Pedell, 2021. "Gait Assessment Using Wearable Sensor-Based Devices in People Living with Dementia: A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(23), pages 1-14, December.
    10. Alessandro Margherita & Emanuele Banchi & Alfredo Biffi & Gianluca di Castri & Rocco Morelli, 2022. "Beyond Total Cost Management (TCM) to Systemic Value Management (SVM): Transformational Trends and a Research Manifesto for an Evolving Discipline," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-16, October.
    11. Fabio Magnacca & Riccardo Giannetti, 2024. "Management accounting and new product development: a systematic literature review and future research directions," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 28(2), pages 651-685, June.
    12. Jacob Elnaggar & Fern Tsien & Lucio Miele & Chindo Hicks & Clayton Yates & Melisa Davis, 2019. "An Integrative Genomics Approach for Associating Genetic Susceptibility with the Tumor Immune Microenvironment in Triple Negative Breast Cancer," Biomedical Journal of Scientific & Technical Research, Biomedical Research Network+, LLC, vol. 15(1), pages 1-12, February.
    13. Evans, Rhiannon & White, James & Turley, Ruth & Slater, Thomas & Morgan, Helen & Strange, Heather & Scourfield, Jonathan, 2017. "Comparison of suicidal ideation, suicide attempt and suicide in children and young people in care and non-care populations: Systematic review and meta-analysis of prevalence," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 122-129.
    14. Yi Ouyang & Ping-Chao Lee & Ling-Mei Ko, 2022. "A Systematic Review of the Development of Sport Policy Research (2000–2020)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-22, December.
    15. Juliane Piasseschi de Bernardin Gonçalves & Giancarlo Lucchetti & Paulo Rossi Menezes & Homero Vallada, 2017. "Complementary religious and spiritual interventions in physical health and quality of life: A systematic review of randomized controlled clinical trials," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(10), pages 1-21, October.
    16. Hang-Nga Mai & Jaeil Kim & Youn-Hee Choi & Du-Hyeong Lee, 2020. "Accuracy of Portable Face-Scanning Devices for Obtaining Three-Dimensional Face Models: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(1), pages 1-15, December.
    17. Federica Di Spirito & Alessandra Amato & Maria Pia Di Palo & Maria Contaldo & Francesco D’Ambrosio & Roberto Lo Giudice & Massimo Amato, 2022. "Oral Lesions Following Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Vaccination: A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(16), pages 1-18, August.
    18. Hyun Kim & Navneet Kaur Baidwan & David Kriebel & Manuel Cifuentes & Sherry Baron, 2018. "Asthma among World Trade Center First Responders: A Qualitative Synthesis and Bias Assessment," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-14, May.
    19. D. L. I. H. K. Peiris & Yanping Duan & Corneel Vandelanotte & Wei Liang & Min Yang & Julien Steven Baker, 2022. "Effects of In-Classroom Physical Activity Breaks on Children’s Academic Performance, Cognition, Health Behaviours and Health Outcomes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomised Controlled Tr," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(15), pages 1-27, August.
    20. Melanie Haag & Elisabeth Zemp & Kurt E. Hersberger & Isabelle Arnet, 2020. "Who Is Best to Test? A Systematic Review of Chlamydia Infections in Switzerland," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(24), pages 1-13, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:23:p:12799-:d:695008. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.