50% of Egyptians Suffer of Anemia Due to Poverty

Half the number of Egyptians aged between 10 and 18 years have anemia, confirmed the World Health Organization (WHO) in a report issued last January.

Dr. Muna Ghibrial a nutrition professor in the National Nutrition Institute, described the spread of undernourishment diseases as disastrous, and the studies conducted by the institute confirm that undernourishment is a dangerous health problem.

In another report, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) confirmed last December that there are 2.4 million hungry Egyptians, 75 % of them are living in the countryside. In another study issued by the National centre for Social Researches and prepared by Dr. Ibtisam Al Gaafari, 52.2 % of the Egyptian families are under the line of nutritional poverty .

The rate of undernourishment diseases, says Dr. Nibal Abd Al-Rahman a nutrition consultant in the national nutrition institute, rises in rural areas. Also rate of these diseases are higher in Upper Egypt than in the Delta. Concerning social categories, undernourishment diseases spread more among the poor. As for the age categories that suffer more from undernourishment diseases, there are three age categories: the children aged less than five, those between 10 and 18 years, and pregnant women.

Dr. Nibal confirmed that, for the children less than five years, iron deficiency anemia is considered the most spread undernourishment disease in this category. She added that this disease, according to studies of the national nutrition institute, accounts for about 25.2 % of the children of this age, followed by the dwarfing disease that accounts for about 15.6 % of the children in this age. She added that these figures are very high and serious.

Dr. Nibal Abd Al-Rahman, the nutrition consultant, cited the report issued by the World Health Organization last January, in which the WHO explains that the main cause of the spread of anaemia is that the child or teenager doesn”t get his required needs of iron-rich food. The next most spreading disease is  the goiter disease, which the report pointed out that it is high among those aged between 10 to 18 years. The rate of infection reached about 10.6 %. As for pregnant women, Dr. Nibal said the most spread undernourishment disease among them is anemia, the rate is about 44.9 %.