Background: Anemia is one of the major public health problems affecting more than half of school-age children in\ndeveloping countries. Anemia among children has been conclusively seen to delay psychomotor development,\npoor cognitive performance, impaired immunity and decrease working capacity. The purpose of this study is to\ndetermine the prevalence and associated factors of anemia among school-age children in Filtu Town, Somali\nregion, Southeast Ethiopia.\nMethods: A community based cross-sectional study was conducted from July to August, 2013 in Filtu Town. A\ntotal of 355 school-age children between 5ââ?¬â??15 years old were included in the study. Socio-demographic data were\nobtained from each participant using structured questionnaire. Hemoglobin concentration was determined by\nHemoCue 201+ photometer (HemoCue, Angelholm, Sweden) analyzer. Hemoglobin values below 11.5 g/dl and\n12 g/dl were considered as anemic for age ranges of 5ââ?¬â??11 and 12ââ?¬â??15 years, respectively. Anthropometric data were\ntaken from each study participant. Peripheral blood film and stool examination were done for hemoparasite and\nintestinal parasite screening, respectively. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 16.0.\nResults: Over all, prevalence of anemia was found to be 23.66%. The vast majority (73.81%) of the anemic children\nhad mild anemia. Moderate and severe anemia accounted for 25% and 1.19% of the anemic children, respectively.\nBeing from a family with low income (AOR = 9.44, 95% CI: 2.88, 30.99), stunted (AOR = 5.50, 95% CI: 2.83, 10.72),\nunderweight (AOR = 2.07, 95% CI: 1.06, 4.05) and having intestinal parasite infection (AOR = 2.99, 95% CI: 1.05, 8.46)\nwere identified as associated factors for anemia.\nConclusion: Anemia is a moderate public health problem in school-age children for the study area. Interventions\ntargeting nutritional deficiencies and parasitic infections are recommende
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