Significant reduction noted in anemia prevalence among Filipinos

Manila (27 August) — The Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI) released recently the initial results of the 7th National Nutrition Survey. The survey revealed significant improvement in the prevalence of Anemia Across all age groups, except among pregnant women, which could be considered a major achievement globally.

In 2008, the overall prevalence of Anemia from 6 months to the elderly is 19.5%. The highest prevalence was observed among infants 6 months to 1 year (55.7%) a significant reduction of 11.4% from 2003 levels, followed by pregnant women (42.5%).

At these levels, Anemia prevalence among Filipino Infants and Pregnant women remains a significant health problem.

While an in-depth analysis on the reasons for the decline in anemia prevalence still has to be done, possible reasons include the increasing availability of fortified food products in the market particularly iron-fortified flour and bread products. Iron-fortified rice is the food for school program of the accelerated hunger-mitigation program of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Given the results of the 7th NNS nutrition, health and hunger-mitigation measures will be directed on the highly at-risk groups such as the pregnant women, infants and young children. (PIA 12)