The astonishingly high rate of anemia among adult women in Cambodia has for years been a major health concern, but the main cause of the problem—long believed to be iron deficiency—is still a mystery, according to a study released last week.
Anemia, which can lead to premature or low-weight births when experienced during pregnancy, was found in 43 percent of 720 Cambodian women of reproductive age surveyed in a study published in the journal Nutrients last week. The World Health Organization considers 40 percent to be the threshold for a “severe” public health concern.
“[T]his very high prevalence of anemia in Cambodian women… cannot be explained solely by micronutrient deficiencies and hemoglobin disorders,” the study says. “This raises fundamental questions on what causes the high prevalence of anemia in Cambodian women.”
Using data from two public health surveys conducted in 2014, the study shows that just 8.1 percent of anemic women suffered from iron deficiency. Additionally, nearly 40 percent had normal patterns of hemoglobin—the protein that carries oxygen through the bloodstream—showing that genetic predisposition did not account for the remaining anemic population.
Frank Wieringa, the study’s author, said the research disproved the presumption that anemia in Cambodia followed the global trend, in which iron deficiency is to blame.
“And that is surprising because then we confirm there is not a lot of iron deficiency,” he said. “More than 40 percent of anemia [cases], we just don’t know where it’s coming from.”
The study says that further efforts to provide micronutrients—mainly iron—to anemic women would prove ineffective, considering the “slight” correlation between iron deficiency and anemia in the country.
Health Ministry spokesman Ly Sovann said he was unaware of the new study’s findings but refused to say whether the government would adjust its approach to anemia.
