Anemia affects two billion people globally. What sort of threat does this pose the world?
I think the most nefarious impact from anemia is the fact that the children, who survive anemia, simply doesn’t thrive in life. Numbers show that the physical and cognitive losses due to iron deficiency anemia have a significant effect on the Gross Domestic Product –in some developing countries up to as much as 4 percent. Moreover I would contend it isn’t even that expensive, I think addressing anemia indeed has solid cost effectiveness.
What causes anemia and how can the reasons behind be addressed?
The most common causes of anemia are inadequate nutrition and parasite infections like malaria. Technology to diagnose exists as does the ability to treat. That being said, it is considerably easier and cheaper to address light anemia than more severe cases of anemia. At the end of the day, it’s only when anemia is detected that it becomes possible to address.
Take the example of a pregnant woman. A healthy woman entering pregnancy can cope with even a complicated pregnancy; in contrast a woman entering pregnancy with undetected and thereby untreated anemia could get into a life-threatening situation affecting also her unborn baby. The best way to address this is to prevent progression to moderate or severe anemia.
What effect will neglecting anemia have on the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)?
Anemia, and its effects, actually has a huge impact on many of the UN SDG’s. Would enhanced focus on anemia –also have a further positive impact beyond the obvious ones? We strongly believe so. In my opinion, not tackling anemia is to undermine the most critically and important resource for the developing world: the knowledge and capabilities of its citizens.
For learning and education to take place, kids cannot be anemic. So on the subject of the SDG’s, reducing the burden of anemia would make a huge difference. For men and women to be able to work, they need to be “anemia-free”. If more people are able to work, more people would have a chance to stay out of poverty.
Most financing currently goes towards preventing anemia in pregnant women, but should this change to ensure no one is left behind?
I don’t think that developing markets can afford to compromise on the intellectual or mental growth of its young and future generations. I think it was Prime Minister Modi who said that two things could hold back India – infrastructure and education. I really think that, whereas preventing anemia in pregnant women continues to be extremely important, I don’t think that adolescent girls or kids can be left out of the equation.
Is the World Health Assembly’s (WHA) target of cutting the number of anemic women of reproductive age in half by 2025 realistic?
This is actually something we have spent quite some time thinking about. HemoCue is the world leader in hemoglobin testing and screening for anemia is key to us. We not only believe it’s realistic, we cannot imagine how the world will look if we don’t interfere. Some programs in Peru for example, have actually, in a very measureable way, managed to reduce prevalence of anemia by 40 to 50 percent. Getting there, however, requires hemoglobin levels in the target group to be monitored consistently.
What is the main challenge facing testing and screening service providers like HemoCue to treating populations in developing rural areas – the areas at most risk of being left behind?
What gets measured gets done. If we can provide a stream of data over time, over five years, to policymakers, then we will have something to stand on when we change the direction of programs. A single drop of blood contains a world of knowledge and can mean an immense amount of difference to our children, to our society, to our present as well as to our future.