Examining Means of Reaching School and Non School Attending Adolescent Girls for Iron Supplementation in Tigray Region, Northern Ethiopia

Abstract

Objectives: To examine means of reaching school and non-school attending adolescent girls for iron supplementation in Tigray region. Methods: The study employed cross-sectional survey consisting of both quantitative and qualitative approaches. Stratified multi-stage systematic random sampling technique was used to collect data from 828 adolescent girls in nine districts. Data was cleaned, coded and analyzed using SPSS version 20 for windows. Results: A significant proportion of adolescent girls (30%) were non-school attending. Symptoms of anemia; paleness and fatigue are known by 18% and 42% of the subjects respectively. Eating iron rich foods (87.6%) and taking iron supplements (36.7%) were mentioned as the preferred methods of preventing anemia.  Radio (84%) is selected as the best media. Schools (39%) and health facilities (69%) were the preferred public facilities for provision of supplements. According to key informants low community awareness, perception of iron tablet as contraceptive, cultural influences and lack of knowledge were some of the potential barriers. Conclusions: Nutrition information communication through radio and health development army and use of school and health facilities to distribute iron supplements were recommended.