TITLE:
Anemia in Cameroon: A Social Approach
AUTHORS:
Kamo Sélangaï Doka Hélène, Adamou Moïse, Fadimatou Altine, Babba Oumarou
KEYWORDS:
Anemia, Knowledge, Attitude, Child’s Mother, Traditional Healers
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Pediatrics,
Vol.10 No.3,
September
25,
2020
ABSTRACT: Viewed as hidden hunger,
anemia is an indicator of poor nutrition and health status, especially for
African pre-school children. Several actions are being carried out to combat
anemia in Africa, without success. The fundamental step to improve this
situation is to determine 1) mothers’ knowledge regarding anemia
(symptoms/signs and etiologies), and 2) their attitudes towards anemia. The
present effort was to determine 1) and 2) on mothers (n = 152)
with children (1 - 5 years) through questionnaire.
Data showed that the less educated the mother was, the more she gave the wrong
definition of anemia. When these mothers have anemic children, 129 go to the
hospital, 34 give grenadine (sweet soda), 14 go to the traditional healer, and
6 give the various decoctions. Our results showed that less-educated mothers
had wrong anemia management, such as attachment to a visual logic that
assimilates blood to food with red coloring. The actions must directly involve
these mothers and the traditional healers to improve this situation.