Title:
Exploring Factors Influencing Anaemia During Pregnancy in India
Authors:
Bhadre, Rupali
Place:
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Publisher:
KIT (Royal Tropical Institute)
Year:
2025
PAGE:
66
Language:
En
Subject:
Health and Nutrition
Keywords:
Anemia during pregnancy in India, maternal health care utilization, socioeconomic status, cultural food taboos, IFA supplementation, National Programs, Implementation gaps, NGO, Community participation.
Abstract:
Background-Anemia during pregnancy is a critical public health concern in India, with over 50 % of pregnant women being affected and contributing significantly to maternal morbidity and mortality. Despite 50 decades of targeted national programs, it continues to pose major challenges. The causes are multifactorial extending beyond nutritional deficiency to include sociocultural, structural barriers, and gender and socioeconomic disparities. Existing strategies follow centralized one size fit all approaches, hence failing to address deeply rooted socioecological factors. Objective-To explore socioecological factors contributing to anemia during pregnancy in India, and to recommend interventions to strengthen existing programs with a focus on decreasing maternal mortality and minimizing neonatal complications. Methodology-The study conducted comprehensive literature review utilizing various search engines and databases including PubMed, BMC, Google Scholar, and grey literature. The review encompassed studies between 2010 to 2025 including qualitative, quantitative, and mixed method studies. The study employed a socioecological framework to analyze factors at individual, interpersonal, cultural, community, organizational, and program levels. Findings-The study identified significant knowledge gaps among pregnant women, particularly those from rural and marginalized communities leading to poor adherence to IFA supplementation. Cultural barriers including food taboos, caste, and religion specific diets, restrict intake of iron rich nutrients and perceptions around IFA such as fear of side effects like nausea, abdominal discomfort, large baby, further hinder the IFA intake. Gender power relations at household level shaped by patriarchal norms, limit pregnant women's autonomy in nutrition and health care decisions. Mother-in-law often emerges as gate keeper, restricting access to nutrition and care. At community level disparities in health care infrastructure and systemic neglect of health workers hinder the outreach of services. Many frontline health care workers including ANMs, ASHAs exhibit gaps in technical knowledge and practical counselling regarding IFA dosage, side effects management and timely referral reducing the effectiveness of service delivery. At national level, implementation gaps in anemia control programs, combined with sociocultural barriers significantly limit the reach, equity, and impact of control strategies.
Organization:
KIT (Royal Tropical Institute) Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU)
Institute:
KIT Institute
Country:
India
Region:
South Asia
Training:
Master of Science in Public Health
Category:
research
Right:
© 2025 Bhadre
Document type:
Thesis/dissertation
File:
FdHz0vL4gR_20251211133659152.pdf