. Surya Bali; . Yash Alok
Volume 12, Issue 5 , June 2022, , Pages 1-8
Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Targeting the huge burden of adolescent anemia, the Weekly Iron and Folic acidSupplementation (WIFS) was launched by the Government of India. Few studies have been doneto ...
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INTRODUCTION: Targeting the huge burden of adolescent anemia, the Weekly Iron and Folic acidSupplementation (WIFS) was launched by the Government of India. Few studies have been doneto assess the effective functioning of the program since its inception. The present study was doneto assess the knowledge WIFS among adolescents of Madhya Pradesh and the associated factors.MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross‑sectional study was done in a total of six districts(3 districts where the national adolescent program was implemented and 3 districts where it was not)of Madhya Pradesh. Multistage stratified random sampling technique was used for the enrollment of3213 adolescent boys and girls, and a prestructured and validated tool was used to collect paperlessdata. Ethical approval and consent from the participants were obtained. Statistical analysis wasperformed using SPSS v21.RESULTS: It was observed that the knowledge of WIFS was more among adolescent girls (29.3%)as compared to adolescent boys (14.1%). More of the adolescent girls received Iron and folic acidtablets as compared to adolescent boys (60.8% girls vs. 24.1% boys). Mostly, the adolescents gotIron tablets from school followed by Anganwadi and PHC/CHC. Girls, rural location, literacy, belowpoverty line status, knowledge of anemia, adolescents who got iron and albendazole tablets, andadequate consumption of iron tablets (>4) were associated with higher knowledge of WIFS.CONCLUSION: The knowledge of WIFS was found to be less in adolescent boys. There is a hint ofthe fact that effective execution of the program among its beneficiaries leads to an automatic increasedknowledge of the program, at least among the beneficiaries. Thus, an indirect but significant indirectfinding is that the nationwide WIFS program needs to be put to greater focus among the adolescentboys, apart from its major focus on the female gender among most age groups.
