Anaemia remains a major public health challenge among adolescent girls in India, with persistently high prevalence despite long-standing national nutrition programmes. School-going adolescent girls represent a critical subgroup due to increased physiological iron requirements during adolescence and the long-term consequences for growth, cognition, and future maternal health. This systematic review, conducted in accordance with Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) 2020 guidelines, synthesised evidence from studies published between January 2010 and December 2024 across major databases and grey literature sources. Observational and interventional studies reporting anaemia prevalence, predictors, or preventive strategies among school-going adolescent girls (10-19 years) in India were included. Eleven studies comprising national surveys and regional school-based investigations were analysed. Reported anaemia prevalence ranged from approximately 40% to over 70%, with consistently higher burden in socioeconomically disadvantaged and high-risk regions. Key determinants included inadequate dietary iron intake, menstrual blood loss, poor sanitation, helminthic infections, and suboptimal adherence to iron-folic acid supplementation programmes. Evidence suggests that integrated school-based interventions combining supplementation, nutrition education, and screening are more effective than single-component strategies. Overall, anaemia among school-going adolescent girls in India remains a persistent and inequitable public health problem, requiring strengthened implementation of context-specific, school-based prevention strategies and improved programme monitoring.
Duggirala et al. (Tue,) studied this question.
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