Anemia : Causes, Symptoms & Treatment: Anemia is a blood related disease. This blood disorder is quite common and women may have to face it the most. The pace of reduction in anemia cases is quite slow. At the global level, it has decreased from 28 percent to 24 percent from 1990-2021.
Anemia : Causes, Symptoms & Treatment: Anemia or blood deficiency is an important health problem which affects at least two billion people worldwide. It is also a common problem with people around the world like lower back pain, diabetes or anxiety and depression. Despite this, even global investments made in the last few decades towards reducing anemia have not been successful in eliminating it. Anemia occurs in a person when his or her blood lacks enough healthy red blood cells to carry oxygen throughout the body. Due to less oxygen reaching the body parts, many common symptoms of anemia start appearing, which include fatigue, inability to breathe properly, dizziness, difficulty in concentrating and difficulty in doing daily tasks.
This is also a big danger from anemia
Apart from these health effects, anemia can also affect the brain development of children. Due to anemia, the risk of stroke, heart disease, dementia and other diseases can increase in adults. Anemia during pregnancy can cause problems like anxiety and depression in women, premature delivery, bleeding after delivery, stillbirth and low birth weight of the baby, etc. Due to anemia in the mother, there is a possibility of infection in both mother and child.
‘Global Burden of Disease Study’
Scientists working on this topic said that being a member of a global research team, we have expertise in epidemiological modeling of maternal, neonatal and nutritional disorders as well as anemia. Our work is part of the ‘Global Burden of Disease Study’. This is a large research study providing a comprehensive assessment of the health risks caused by hundreds of diseases, injuries and risk factors worldwide.
Third biggest cause of disability
Anemia is a global problem. Anemia can be detected by a simple blood test and it can have many causes. A decrease in healthy red blood cells can be caused by excessive loss of red blood cells, such as bleeding, or by their destruction by the body’s immune system. Anemia can also be caused by a decrease in the production of new red blood cells or changes in their normal structure or lifespan.
Globally, anemia is the third leading cause of disability. Our recent study found that almost one in four people has anemia. It is more common in children under five years of age, adolescent girls and women. One third of these are suffering from anemia. The incidence of anemia is particularly high in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. We estimate that 40 percent of the people there or two out of every five people have anemia.
The pace of reduction of cases is very slow
Reducing anemia means dealing with the underlying causes. Reducing anemia globally is complex due to its many underlying causes. The biggest cause of anemia is lack of iron in the diet.
Other important causes of anemia include blood disorders like sickle cell disease or thalassemia. Apart from these, infectious diseases like malaria and hookworm, gynecological and obstetric conditions, inflammation and chronic diseases etc. are included.
How to protect?
Anemia in adolescent and adult women is often caused by blood loss due to menstruation and increased blood needs for fetal growth during pregnancy. Taking iron in the diet is most beneficial to prevent or treat anemia. Due to anemia, approximately two billion people around the world face difficulty in going to school, working properly and taking care of their families properly.
