Key Determinants of Anemia among Youngsters under Five Years in Senegal, Malawi, and Angola

Abstract

Anemia is characterized as a condition where there is a deficient number of hematocrit, hemoglobin, or red cells in the human body. This condition affects most youngsters under five years old and pregnant women. The fundamental goal of this paper is to investigate anemia, recognize its determinants, and propose critical proposals to achieve 2030 Sustainable Development Goal with a focus on Senegal, Malawi, and Angola. This research utilized 2016 nationally representative information from Senegal, Malawi, and Angola, which involved collecting data on the demographic and health of the populaces. The Demographic and Health Survey information from Senegal, Malawi, and Angola was then merged to create a pooled sample. This statistical technique enables to generalize and compare the results. A generalized linear mixed model was utilized to decide the factors correlated with anemia among youngsters under five years in Senegal, Malawi, and Angola. The analysis was performed in SPSS and SAS software. A generalized linear mixed model results showed that, compared to youngsters aged less than 12 months, youngsters in the age interval 13–23, 24–35, 36–47, and 48–59 months are more likely to be affected by anemia (OR = 1.419, 2.282, 3.174 and 4.874 respectively). In this study, seven factors were included in the final model. However, only five were found to be significant in explaining anemia at the 5% level of significance. The generalized linear mixed model identified youngster’s age, gender, mother’s level of schooling, wealth status, and nutritional status as determinants of anemia among youngsters under five years in Senegal, Malawi, and Angola.