Poverty and poor child-care in Cambodia have resulted in abnormally high numbers of anemic children, who are more likely to fall victim to future ailments, according to the country’s first nutrient study.
As many as 80 percent of surveyed Cambodian children under 2 years old are anemic, the survey concludes. It was conducted by Helen Keller International and funded by both USAID and the government.
Though the number of anemia cases dropped to 54 percent in children under the age of 5, the effects of the deficiency can still impact an entire generation years down the road.
“Iron deficiency anemia during childhood causes long-lasting impairments in cognitive development, ultimately resulting in lower school and work performance,” a report released this week by Helen Keller International states. “Children with iron deficiency anemia are also at greater risk of becoming ill and may grow more slowly.”
In light of the survey results, gathered from interviews in 15,000 households in 10 provinces, iron nutrition should become a priority area for the governments, said Dr Mean Chhivuns, deputy director general of the Ministry of Health.
“It’s important to educate our people to eat foods high in iron and we will consider providing iron tablets to children,” he said.
The risk of iron deficiency can also be reduced by breast-feeding young children—a practice not often found in the survey group.
Fewer than 20 percent of children under six months old were being exclusively breast fed by their mothers, the report found.
Many Cambodian women have “poor breast-feeding practices,” said Dora Panagides, Cambodia’s director for Helen Keller International.
“Breast-feeding should be initiated immediately after birth and the child should be breast-fed exclusively until 6 months of age,” she said. “Here they give babies sugar-water and introduce all these other foods. This is really bad. It can lead to diarrhea and contribute to malnutrition.”
In addition, Panagides said, most mothers can’t afford to feed their children iron-rich food like fish, meat, and eggs. “Poverty is really an underlying factor. [Mothers] just can’t afford to buy these foods,” she said.
The survey also assessed Vitamin A deficiencies in women and children, and gauged the effectiveness of the government’s ongoing Vitamin A distribution program.
The survey found the prevalence of night blindness—an indicator of Vitamin A deficiency—among children aged 18 months to 59 months. Two and a half percent to 8.4 percent of pregnant women also reported having night blindness, which can lead to increased eye infections and end in blindness, during their last pregnancy, the report states.
“Night blindness is just the tip of the iceberg. Many more [people] have Vitamin A deficiencies.” Panagides said.
The government has been distributing high-dose Vitamin A capsules to children aged 6 months to six years since 1994 in an effort to combat the effects of VAD, the report stated.
But the capsules have only reached 10-55 percent of Cambodian children nationwide, the survey found, with logistical difficulties hindering distribution efforts.
Helen Keller International, along with Unesco and the World Health Organization, has been meeting monthly with the Ministry of Health to try and improve Cambodia’s health programs, Panagides said.
