Kaleab Tesfaye Tegegne, Eleni tesfaye Tegegne, Mekibib Kassa Tessema, Teshale Belayneh, Berhanu Bifato, Kebebush Gebremichael and Belayneh Feleke Weldeyes
Background: Anemia among women of childbearing age is a major public health concern globally, particularly in low and middle-income countries. The most common type of anemia worldwide is nutritional anemia mainly due to iron, foliate, and vitamin B12 deficiencies. Iron deficiency anemia is the most common cause of anemia, with over 50% of anemia being due to iron deficiency Designing and evaluating effective intervention programs necessitates investigating regional variations in iron supplementation among women.
As a result, from 2016 to 2019, this study aimed to investigate the regional variance in iron supplementation among Ethiopian women aged 15 to 49 who had a child in the previous five years.
Methods: The Ethiopian Demographic and Health Surveys from 2016 and 2019 were used. To identify geographical risk areas for iron supplementation coverage, researchers used spatial autocorrelation analysis, hotspot analysis, spatial interpolation, and spatial scan statistics. The spatial pattern and significant hotspot locations for iron supplementation among women were investigated using ArcGIS V.10.3 and SaTScan V.10.0 statistical software.
Results: Iron supplementation coverage was spatially clustered in Ethiopia at the regional level (Global Morans=-0.517864 (p=0.033744)). The purely SaTScan spatial analysis identified a total of 7 significant clusters in Ethiopia. The most likely SaTScan cluster of low iron supplementation coverage was identified in Oromia (LLR=164.51, p<0.01) and Somalia (LLR=12.01, p<0.01). In 2016 and the most likely SaTScan cluster of low iron supplementation coverage was identified in Somalia (LLR=82.34, p<0.01), Oromia (LLR=14.10, p<0.01) and SNNPRS (LLR4.81, p<0.01) in 2019.
The Space-Time SaTScan analysis identified a total of 3 significant clusters. The most likely SaTScan cluster of low iron supplementation coverage was identified in Oromia (LLR=162.13, p<0.01) and SNNPRS (LLR 3.24, p<0.01) during the period from 2016/6/27-2017/6/28.
Conclusion: Women in the Harar, Dire Dawa, Gambella, Somalia Oromia, and Southern Nation Nationalities and Peoples Regions had a low likelihood of receiving iron supplements.
As a result, when developing efficient Antenatal care strategies to enhance iron supplementation among women to lower the burden of anemia and its effects among pregnant women in Ethiopia, these regions should be considered.