(P24-111-23) Anemia and Minimum Acceptable Diet Among Senegalese Children 6-23 Months Old: Baseline Analysis From the IIMAANJE Randomized Controlled Trial

Objectives: To explore sociodemographic characteristics associated with meeting a minimum acceptable diet (MAD) and anemia status in participants in the IIMAANJE Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) which uses a mobile voice and text messaging intervention aimed at improving infant and young child feeding practices. 

Methods: A cross-sectional analyses of children living in 102 villages in three regions (Thies, Diourbel and Fatick) regions of Senegal was conducted in May-June 2022. Parents provided written informed consent and the household had to be a member of a village farming group to be eligible. MAD was calculated based on a 24-hour recall using the World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) indicator. Hemocue finger prick machines were used to measure hemoglobin levels to determine anemia status. Binary logistic regression was used to explore the associations with meeting MAD and anemia status as dependent variables.

Results: Of the 488 children recruited, 51.4% were male, mean age of 11.9 months, 56.2% came from the Thies region, and 70.8% came from the Wolof/Lebou ethnic tribe. Whilst 60% of the mothers had not attended formal education, 45.5% reported not being able to read/write in any language. Most [88.9%] of the children did not meet MAD, 69.3% were anemic and 62% had a fever in past 2 weeks. In the adjusted model, living in Diourbel [OR 3.27, 95% CI: 1.67, 6.39], child’s age [OR 1.18, 95% CI: 1.09, 1.27] and mother's age [OR 1.07, 95% CI: 1.03, 1.11] were independently associated with higher odds of meeting MAD. In the anemia model, living in Diourbel [OR 2.43, 95% CI: 1.48, 3.98] and male children [OR 2.13, 95% CI: 1.41, 3.21] had independently higher odds of being anemic even after adjusting for other covariates.

Conclusions: We found a high prevalence of anemia and poor diet quality among infants and young children in Senegal prior to our intervention implementation. We anticipate that the voice messaging intervention will help to improve diets and nutrition outcomes among this population.

Funding Sources: Research reported in this publication was supported by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institutes of Child Health & Human Development (1R21HD105067-01).