Worldwide prevalence of anaemia 1993-2005

Anaemia is a public health problem that affects populations in both rich and poor countries. Its primary cause is iron deficiency, but a number of other conditions, such as malaria, parasitic infection, other nutritional deficiencies, and haemoglobinopathies are also responsible, often in combination. This report on the World Health Organisation (WHO) Global Database on Anaemia provides estimates of the prevalence of anaemia at country, regional and global levels for all population groups (preschool-age children, school-age children, pregnant and non-pregnant women, men, and the elderly).

The WHO Global Database on Anaemia can be used to describe the nutritional status of populations and to identify the needs for interventions to prevent and control anaemia. It also tracks trends over the years and shows progress toward the goal of anaemia reduction adopted by the World Summit for Children. The indicator used is this report is haemoglobin concentration. A chapter of the report is dedicated to the criteria used to identify, revise, and select the surveys, and the methodology developed to generate national, regional, and global estimates. The authors argue that in order for the database to reach its full potential, data should be collected on other vulnerable population groups such as the elderly and school-age children, and surveys should be more inclusive and collect information on iron status and other causes of anaemia. The report also finds that there are almost no countries where anaemia is not at least a mild public health problem. The statistics show that globally, anaemia affects 1.62 billion people, approximately 24 percent of the world's population.