Anaemia among school children aged 6-11 years old in Gaza strip, Palestine

ABSTRACT

The objective of the study was to determine the prevalence of anaemia among children aged 6-11 old years due to causes other than parasitic infections. The present study was a cross-sectional study that included 1446 school children of both sexes, distributed in three localities [Khanyounis, Gaza and Beit-lahia] of Gaza strip. The cut-off point for anaemia was determined according to the mean of haemoglobin for all studied school age children, which was [12 g/dl] in accordance to WHO criteria. The observed mean level of Hb was 12 g/dl; standard deviation was 0.915 while the normal value is ranged between 8.9-15.2. Anaemia was found slightly higher in girls [36.3%] than boys [34%]. The results showed that anaemia constitute a health problem in Gaza with a prevalence of 35.3%. No variation in the prevalence of anaemia among the three studies areas. It is concluded that anaemia still constitutes a health problem among schoolchildren with a present prevalence among school-age children of 35.3%. It is expected that the prevalence of anaemia may be higher than that reported by this study due to Israeli siege to Gaza Strip