Introduction: Anaemia continues to be a major health concern among adolescent girls, affecting their growth, cognitive abilities, academic performance, and future maternal and child health. Although iron and folic acid supplementation programmes have been implemented, long-term improvement in haemoglobin levels remains a challenge. Holistic approaches that combine dietary interventions to enhance iron intake, yoga, lifestyle modifications, and health education have proven to be more beneficial in improving overall health and haemoglobin status. Schools provide an ideal platform to effectively deliver such integrated interventions to adolescents. Aim: To evaluate the effectiveness of a structured multi-intervention program-including iron-rich nutritional supplementation, structured health education, and supervised yoga-on haemoglobin levels among adolescent girls with anaemia. Materials and Methods: The present prospective interventional study was conducted among 64 adolescent girls (aged 14-18 years) with mild to moderate anaemia (Hb 7-12 g/dL) at a government high school in Raigarh, Chhattisgarh, India, from August 2022-January 2023. The 12-week intervention included daily consumption of iron-rich nutritious balls, interactive educational sessions on nutrition, dietary diversification, and menstrual hygiene, and supervised yoga sessions lasting 60-70 minutes, conducted six days per week. Haemoglobin levels were measured at baseline and at 6, 11, and 15 weeks. Paired t-tests and Pearson correlation analyses were used to assess changes over time and the consistency of haemoglobin improvement, with p<0.05 considered statistically significant. Results: At baseline, 51 participants (79.7%) had mild anaemia and 13 (20.3%) had moderate anaemia; no cases of severe anaemia were observed. Mean haemoglobin levels increased steadily from 10.54±0.94 g/dL at baseline to 11.52±0.95 g/dL at 15 weeks. Normal haemoglobin status improved from 0% at baseline to 3.1% at 6 weeks, 12.5% at 11 weeks, and 37.5% at 15 weeks, while moderate anaemia declined to 6.3% by the final assessment. Paired t-tests showed a non-significant change at 6 weeks (t=1.725, p=0.089) but significant improvements at 11 weeks (t=-4.316, p<0.001) and 15 weeks (t=-11.623, p<0.001). Strong positive correlations between baseline and follow-up haemoglobin values (r=0.718-0.781, p<0.001) indicated consistent and stable improvement throughout the intervention period. Conclusion: The current study demonstrated that a combined approach of nutritional supplementation, supervised yoga, and health education produced sustained improvements in haemoglobin levels among adolescent girls with anaemia, shifting many from moderate to mild or normal status within 15 weeks. This holistic, school-based model is practical, effective, and scalable for anaemia management.
Chandrakar et al. (Sun,) studied this question.