Anemia in Pregnant Women and Children Aged 6 to 59 Months Living in Mozambique and Portugal: An Overview of Systematic Reviews

• Published in: International journal of environmental research and public health Vol. 19; no. 8; p. 4685
• Main Authors: Maulide Cane, Réka, Chidassicua, José Braz, Varandas, Luís, Craveiro, Isabel
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 13-04-2022; MDPI
• Subjects: Age; Anemia; Anemia - epidemiology; Anemia, Iron-Deficiency - epidemiology; Birth weight; Child; Child, Preschool; Children; Children & youth; Content analysis; Female; Girls; Humans; Indicators; Infant; Iron; Literature reviews; Mozambique - epidemiology; Nutrient deficiency; Nutrition; Population; Portugal - epidemiology; Pregnancy; Pregnant Women; Prevalence; Public health; Quality assessment; Quality control; Review; Reviews; Scientific papers; Software; Subgroups; Sustainable development; Systematic review; Systematic Reviews as Topic; Womens health; Portugal; Mozambique; Mozambique; pregnant women; children; Portugal; anemia
• ISSN: 1660-4601; 1661-7827; 1660-4601
• DOI: 10.3390/ijerph19084685

Globally, anemia is still a public health issue faced by people in low and high-income countries. This study gives an overview of published scientific articles related to the prevalence, nutritional indicators, and social determinants of anemia in pregnant women and children aged 6 to 59 months living in Mozambique and Portugal.
We performed a review of scientific literature in April 2021, searching for published indexed articles in the last 15 years (2003-2018) in electronic databases. Subsequently, quality assessment, data extraction, and content analysis were performed.
We have identified 20 relevant publications. Unsurprisingly, anemia plays a relevant role in disability and life imbalances for these subgroups in Mozambique compared with Portugal. For both countries, data on anemia and iron deficiency in pregnant women and children aged 6 to 59 months old are either outdated or remain unclear. Similarly, studies on social determinants and anemia are also still scarce.
A gap of information on anemia, other nutritional indicators, and social determinants in pregnant women and children between 6 and 59 months of age living in Mozambique and Portugal is highly observed. More research is crucial to help achieve the goals established by the Sustainable Development Goals.