A Study to Assess the Effectiveness of Iron Fortified Riceflakes on Hemoglobin Level among Preschoolers with Nutritional Anaemia at Selected Schools, Coimbatore

Iron deficiency anaemia (IDA) is one among the top ten riskfactors contributing to the global burden of disease. The research design adopted for the study was one group pre test post test control group experimental design. The population of the study was preschoolers (3-4 years). The sample number was 50 preschoolers with haemoglobin level between 8-10 gm/dl. Non probability purposive sampling technique was used to select the samples. The tool consists of demographic data and clinical evaluation tool for assessing anaemia. The demographic data include the child’s age, sex, birth order, monthly family income, type of family, present weight, parental occupation, deworming done within four months and food habits. The clinical evaluation include the general appearance, hair, conjunctiva, lips, nail buds, oral mucosa and palms along with the Haemoglobin level using hemoglobinometer. Among the preschoolers 59.99 % were anaemic. The experimental group is provided with jaggery based ready- to- use snack for one month and Hb assessed. The observed t-value of pre test and post test mean of haemoglobin level was 8.50 and 9.66 respectively and t value was 6.366 which is significant at 0.001 levels. The mean Hb level among control group was 8.47and 8.48 respectively with a t value 0.228 which is not significant at any level. The mean value for the control and experimental group after intervention is 8.48 and10.84 respectively with a t value 14.712 which is highly significant, at Pless than0.001. The computed t value shows no significant association between Hb level and food habits.