Prevalence of anemia in Somalia: A systematic review and meta-analysis of 3988 participants

Abstract:
The incidence of anemia in Somalia is of medical concerns, especially among neonates and
pregnant women. Despite the available intervention of the government to provide iron‑based
supplement, the associated morbidity of anemia in Somalia is still of medical relevance. This
systematic review and meta‑analysis were conducted to provide detailed information on the
prevalence of anemia in Somalia. A systematic search for articles describing the prevalence of
anemia within Somalia was conducted following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic
Reviews and Meta‑analysis guidelines. A meta‑analysis was performed on our eligible studies
using the random effect model. Our search returned 13 eligible articles involving 3988 participants
within Somalia. There was a relative high prevalence of anemia in Somalia in this study 39.7% (95%
CI: 26.3–53.1; I2=99.26%, P≤ 0.001). A higher proportion of these cases was from pregnant
women. Cross‑sectional study designs had more incidence of anemia 39.8% (95% CI: 29.0–51.7)
than retrospective studies 29.2% (95% CI: 17.0–45.3) in this review. There was a variation in the
distribution of anemia in relation to the publication years at P< 0.001. Evidence from this study
reveals that there is a high prevalence of anemiain Somalia and effort toward strategic treatment
should be prioritized