DOI: 10.36347/sajp

Pages: 423-426

Anaemia is one of the important public health problem, which affects the world’s population widely. Among all types of anaemia, iron deficiency anaemia is commonly seen in people of developing countries. The prevalence is high specifically in school children and pregnant women. This study was designed to evaluate the prevalence of anaemia among the school going children in a rural area. A prospective study was carried out among 700 children of three different schools. The haemoglobin levels were estimated using Sahli’s haemometer by acid haemolysis method. The overall prevalence of anaemia was 81.71% which was commonly seen in female children. 28.91% of the children between the age group of 9 to 11 years were more prone to anaemia. The haemoglobin levels of 312 children were below 7 g/dl, which indicates that the children were severely anaemic. The severity of anaemia was analysed and found that around 54.36% of children were severely anaemic. The below normal BMI levels indicates the nutritionally compromised status of the children. In order to reduce the prevalence of anemia, the government need to emphasize on community and primary care health programs and create an awareness of healthy diet and reproductive health, which can help to reduce the burden of anemia. Further research in this area are required to rectify the problem and take appropriate measures to improve the overall quality of life of children, where the pharmacist should play a pivotal role in the health care team by providing patient counselling and health screening services