Charity Anne Rowley, Brigham Young University
Health
Background: Since 2009 groups of professors and students from the College of Nursing have been traveling to Guayaquil, Ecuador and assessing anemia rates and nutrition among the school children there. The adverse effects of anemia can include: weakness, fatigue, shortness of breath, and poor concentration. Initial anemia rates were discovered ranging 30-50%.
An Ecuadorian non-profit organization, Hogar de Cristo, used the BYU results to implement a program in which 1000 children would receive a bottle of soy milk and a roll everyday at school. Interested in comparing the effect of soy milk on anemia to other interventions, students and professors designed and implemented this interventional study in 2012.
Intervention: Anemia often results from nutritional deficiencies and intestinal parasites. A nutrition survey conducted among these school children showed many nutrients were below recommended levels. Based on these facts and the results of previous studies, three new interventions (in addition to the soy milk and roll) were implemented. These interventions include a vitamin with iron, an antiparasitic medication, and a vitamin with iron combined along with the antiparastitic medication.
Results: Nutrition and rates of anemia were reassessed in November 2012 after completing a full school year with the interventions and then again in May 2013 after the school children’s summer without the interventions. Average anemia increased from 15% in November to 30% in May. This indicates that the interventions were effective during the school year and are necessary to maintain low rates of anemia. The two most effective interventions were the vitamin combined with the antiparasitic and, surprisingly, the soy milk and roll.
We will return in November 2013 to reevaluate the effects of a second school year of interventions. Our ultimate goal is to find the most effective and practical intervention and assist the Ecuadorians in making it a sustainable program.