RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 High-risk fertility behaviour and childhood anaemia in sub-Saharan Africa
JF BMJ Open
JO BMJ Open
FD British Medical Journal Publishing Group
SP e051921
DO 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-051921
VO 12
IS 5
A1 Joshua Okyere
A1 Richard Gyan Aboagye
A1 Bright Opoku Ahinkorah
A1 Abdul-Aziz Seidu
A1 Edward Kwabena Ameyaw
A1 Eugene Budu
A1 Betregiorgis Zegeye
A1 Sanni Yaya
YR 2022
UL http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/12/5/e051921.abstract
AB Objective This study sought to examine the association between high-risk fertility behaviour and childhood anaemia in sub-Saharan Africa .Design An analytical study was conducted using cross-sectional data from mothers with children under age 5 (n=64 512) from 28 sub-Saharan African countries. Multilevel logistic regression models were fitted to examine the association between high-risk fertility behaviour and childhood anaemia. The results were presented using adjusted odds ratios (aORs) with 95% confidence interval (CI).Setting Twenty-eight sub-Saharan African countries.Outcome measure Childhood anaemia.Results The percentage of children with anaemia in the 28 countries was 66.7%. We found that age more than 34 at delivery and short birth interval had significant associations with childhood anaemia. Children of mothers whose most recent delivery occurred after 34 years were less likely to be anaemic compared with those whose most recent delivery occurred before age 34 (aOR=0.89; 95% CI 0.83 to 0.95). We found that children born to mothers with short birth intervals were more likely to be anaemic, compared with those with long birth intervals (aOR=1.08; 95% CI 1.01 to 1.16).Conclusions We, therefore, draw the attention of policy makers and programme implementers to invest in policies and programmes aimed at combating childhood anaemia in sub-Saharan Africa to focus on the population at risk, that is, women whose most recent delivery occurred at younger ages and those with short birth intervals. Encouraging contraceptive use and creating awareness about the importance of birth spacing among reproductive-age women would be more helpful.Data are available in a public, open access repository. The data set analysed is publicly available via https://dhsprogram.com/data/available-datasets.cfm.