ANEMIA IN PRIMARY SCHOOL-CHILDREN OF TWO HIGHLAND COMMUNES IN NAM DONG DISTRICT, THUA THIEN HUE PROVINCE

SUMMARY A survey carried out in 2007 of 336 highland school children in Nam Dong district, Thua Thien Hue Province showed that the total rate of anemia was 28.9%, in which it was almost all at mild level (26.2%) and moderate level (2.7%), there were no cases at the serious level; The malnutrition rate of children was 39%. According to the stool tests, the rate of children getting hookworm was the highest with 18.2%. There was a significant difference between anemia and ethnic groups (the anemia rate of the Kinh children was lower than that of the Catu ones). Moreover, there were other significant differences between anemia and biological factors, including: age, nutritional status, and hookworm infection. Factors relating to anemia were geography, household economic levels, the number of days eating meat and fish a week, having parents working as farmers, educational levels of mothers and mother’s practice in feeding children.