Prevalence of iron deficiency anemia in the afghan refuge Semnan camp

Anemia is one of the main problems of the public health in the world. The most reason for its high prevalence is low iron diet which in progressive cases has notable complications. Due to high prevalence of iron deficiency anemia among Afghanistan inhabitant, the aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of anemia in a afghan refugee camp in Semnan. This descriptive cross-sectional study was performed on 321 persons in the afghan refugee Semnan camp in 2004. A blood sample (two ml in EDTA coagulant) was taken from each person for performing CBC and HbA2 test and another five ml blood collected in a tube test for measuring serum iron. MCV less than 80 femtoliter and serum iron less than 35 µg /dl in female and 60 µg/dl in male and HbA2 less than 3.5% were considered as iron deficiency anemia. Our results indicated that 29 cases (9%) including 12 male cases (8.6%) and 17 female cases (9.4%) showed an iron deficiency anemia among 321 afghan refugee. Low prevalence of iron deficiency anemia in the afghan refugee camp with compared to Afghanistan residents may indicate well nutrition of Afghan people who live in the afghan refuge camp of Semnan.