Globally, one in four adolescents is affected by anaemia (Azzopardi et al, 2019). Asia contributes the highest number of cases, with approximately 194 million anaemic adolescents living in India and China (Wang et al, 2020). While the etiology of anaemia in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) is multi-faceted, including infection and chronic illness, the predominant causes during adolescence are iron and other micronutrient deficiencies. Iron deficiency and iron deficiency anaemia (IDA) contribute the majority of disability[1]adjusted life years (DALYs) associated with micronutrient deficiencies globally, with IDA being the leading cause of years lived with disability among children and adolescents (Das et al, 2018). Age-disaggregated data for school-aged children 5-9 years of age, younger adolescents (10- 14 years of age) and older adolescents (15-19 years of age) is scarce. However, combined data for children and adolescents (0-19 years of age) shows that the prevalence of IDA is highest in Afghanistan (41%), followed by Yemen (39.8%) and Senegal (38.5%) (Global Burden of Disease Pediatrics Collaboration, 2016)
