Raising serious public health concerns, a new survey has found that around 64 per cent of the women living in the climate change-hit islands of Sundarbans suffer from anaemia.
The study conducted by the National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases (NICED) and the international NGO Save the Children in Patharpratima block has found that the overall prevalence of anaemia in women is as high as 64 per cent.
“Panchayat-disaggregated data clearly revealed that all the panchayats had ‘severe public health problem’ as the prevalence of anaemia was greater than 40 per cent in each of them,” said the report.
Anaemia is the scarcity in the number of red blood cells or the amount of hemoglobin in the blood. The major health consequences include poor pregnancy outcome, impaired physical and cognitive development, increased risk of morbidity in children and reduced work productivity in adults.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), anaemia contributes to 20 per cent of all maternal deaths.
NICED’s Dr Samiran Panda, who lead the study, said besides nutritional deficiencies, unhygienic practices prevalent among the people of Sundarbans are also responsible for anaemia.
As a result of climate change induced sea level rise, instances of coastal erosion, flooding and cyclone incidences have increased manifold in the Sundarban swamps putting the villagers at greater health risks.
After the 2009 Aila cyclone many toilets were rendered dysfunctional as villages went under water. Sources of drinking water supply also gets contaminated with flooding in the low-lying islands which are home to 40 lakh people.
Of the 1454 women surveyed in the report, 56 per cent reported using open field, pond side latrine or pit latrine for defecation, 41 per cent reported using ash, soil or only water to wash hands following ablution after defecation.
The report found that women not reporting use of sanitary latrine had 1.3 times the odds of having iron deficiency anaemia.
Besides other nutritional deficiencies such as vitamin B12, folate and vitamin A, iron deficiency is thought to be the most common cause of anaemia globally.
Lack of iron in the body affects its immune system making it more vulnerable to any disease.
“With this report we can scientifically conclude that around 80 to 90 per cent of women there are suffering from iron deficiency,” Dr Panda said stressing that the matter is of serious concern.
Iron deficiency is the most common and widespread nutritional disorder in the world.
In the survey, only 20 per cent of women reported frequent intake of milk, 19 per cent frequent intake of egg and 11 per cent frequent intake of lemon.
Fourteen percent women reported frequent intake of any kind of fruits.
To prevent anaemia, the report recommends a change in dietary habits and behaviour change communications focusing on breast feeding practices, use of sanitary latrine and food and hand wash practices.