Oman, Muscat: Faced with worrisome trends, Oman is gearing up to control iron deficiency anaemia (IDA) in infants, young children and pregnant women.
The country seeks to reduce the prevalence of anaemia in children aged nine months and 18 months to 18 per cent by 2015 from 29 per cent and 39.8 per cent respectively in 2010 and in pregnant women to less than 25 per cent (2015) from 29.2 per cent (2010), which earlier stood at 42 per cent in 2005.
On the whole, says the National Strategic Plan for Health Development, 44 per cent of Omani children suffer from mild to
moderate anaemia at the age of nine months, and 45.5 per cent at the age of 18 months (2009).
For school children, the percentage of anaemia stood at around 49 among boys and 52.7 among girls in 2004.
Anaemia among pregnant women stood at 27.5 per cent in 2009. The Ministry of Health is working on the development and implementation of a National Strategy for the control and management of iron deficiency anaemia in infants, children and pregnant women.
The availability of national policy on control and management of IDA and a protocol to evaluate reduction of IDA among children and women is expected to be ready in near future.
Anaemia is a disorder wherein the blood is unable to supply adequate amounts of oxygen to the body. People, who suffer from anaemia, often feel exhausted, cold, and weak and also experience shortness of breath. Such people have low count of haemoglobin in their blood.
Haemoglobin carries oxygen and also imparts red colour to the blood.
When haemoglobin count is low, the blood carries less oxygen.
Anaemia occurs when a person has lower-than-normal levels of red blood cells (RBCs) in the blood. Iron-deficiency anaemia is the most common type of anaemia, which occurs when the patient’s body does not have enough of mineral iron.
The patient needs iron to produce haemoglobin, which carries oxygen to the body’s tissues. Our tissues and muscles need oxygen to function effectively.
In women of child-bearing age, the most common cause of iron-deficiency anaemia is loss of iron in blood due to heavy menstruation or pregnancy. Iron-deficiency anaemia can also be caused by a poor diet or by certain intestinal diseases that affect how the body absorbs iron. The condition is normally treated with iron supplements.
There are several types of anaemia and hence, the cause for each type differs. Usually, poor diet lacking iron is the main cause for anaemia.
According to the WHO, nearly two billion people in the world suffer from anaemia, which is more common in developing countries due to poor diet, iron deficiency and infections.
Experts say blood is composed of 55 per cent plasma and 45 per cent blood cells. Out of the 45 per cent blood cells, nearly 99 per cent are red blood cells (RBCs), which carry oxygen from the lungs to all the cells of the body and thereafter carbon dioxide from the cells to the lungs. The average lifespan of RBCs is around 120 days, and the body produces millions of these cells every single day.
The actual production of the RBCs occurs in the bone marrow with the help of a hormone known as erythropoietin, which is produced in the kidneys. Erythropoietin stimulates the stem cells in the bone marrow, so that they produce RBCs. If there is a problem with the kidneys, it can affect the production of erythropoietin and this, in turn, can affect the production of RBCs, leading to anaemia.
Fortunately, anaemia is preventable through healthy, nutritious and iron-rich diet such as meat, fish, eggs, dairy products, poultry, beef liver, salmon, yellow fin tuna and chickpeas. Many vegetarians as a result suffer from deficiency of this vitamin and also are anaemic.
© Oman Daily Observer
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