Abstract:
Anemia, defined as a decreased concentration of blood hemoglobin, is one of the most common nutritional deficiency diseases observed globally and affects more than a quarter of the world’s population. It is a major public health problem affecting all ages of the population with its highest prevalence among children under five years of age and pregnant women. Globally, anemia affects 1.62 billion people (25%), among which 56 million are women (Michalski, Nguyen et al. 2017). The general objective of this study was to examine the determinant factors of anemia among women of reproductive age in Ethiopia based on EDHS 2016 data set using multilevel ordinal logistic regression model. The data source was a 2016 Ethiopian Demographic and Health survey (EDHS) which involving 15683 women respondents in 11 regions. To achieve the objective of this study descriptive statistics, chi-square test of association and partial proportional odds model and multilevel ordinal logistic model related tests were used for data analysis using socio-economic, demographic and health related variables as explanatory variables and anemia levels of reproductive age of women as the response variables. The result of the analysis revealed that the variables education level, region, pregnancy status, body mass index, place of residence, contraceptive methods, breastfeeding and marital status were found to be significant determinants of anemia levels among women in the reproductive age group in Ethiopia and from the result it also suggested that pregnant women were more likely to be moderate anemic and severe anemic than none pregnant women. According to empty multilevel result, there is a significance evidence of heterogeneity prevalence of anemia level across regions for women reproductive age. Thus, it can be concluded that random slop multilevel model is best fitted. The result found that women with living in urban area, with higher level of education, women with high economy level and women used modern contraceptive methods were less likely to had higher anemic level. Based on the result, there exist significant differences of anemic distribution among women in different regions of Ethiopia. In rural area of Ethiopia, anemia prevention strategy program should also be considered. Because the study result has shown high prevalence in rural resident.
