1ЭХЭМҮТ, 2Ховд БОЭТ, 3НҮБХАС, 4Баян-өлгий ЭМГ
Study aim: To evaluate the impact/benefit of introduction of the HCS testing in early identification of anemia among pregnant women in Western region of Mongolia.
Materials and Methods: This is prospective and controlled study and included randomly selected 13 FGPs from 7 soums of two western aimags, Bayan-Ulgii and Khovd. The study was done in two phases using comparative analysis of baseline and post intervention situation. During the baseline, 68 service providers and 743 pregnant women were interviewed on anemia evaluation in pregnant women. The second phase included the HCS introduction training as an intervention and post intervention evaluation of anemia testing compared to baseline.
Study results: From the interview of service providers( 34) during the baseline assessment in Khovd province, it was clear that the main method of anemia screening among service providers included in study was clinical testing (93.8%) and colour scale never been used in clinical practice. The 19 (59.4%) out of 32 service providers said that clinical testing is accurate method for anemia diagnosis whereas 13 (40.6%) of them think that this method is not accurate. In terms of referral, 7 out of 32 said they refer women with severe anemia and 5 service providers said they don’t conduct sufficient follow up after the treatment.
In Bayan-Ulgii province, there 36 service providers were interviewed and 88.9% of them do perform testing of anemia using mostly clinical testing. 30.6% of them accept clinical testing as an accurate method. Treatment follow-up also was observed as not sufficient (97.2%). However, relatively good referral system was observed in Bayan-Ulgii province. The HCS testing was used in 406 pregnant women in Bayan-Ulgii province and 237 (58.4%) of them were diagnosed mild-to moderate anemia whereas 74 (18.2%) were with severe anemia. The mean Haemoglobin level of referred women with severe anemia was less than 7 gm/dl.
Conclusion: Due to lack of accurate testing of haemoglobin levels in Bayan-Ulgii and Khovd provinces, the clinical screening is an only method for anemia detection, which does not meet current diagnostic and treatment standards. The correct use of hemoglobine colour tests in soum hospitals is useful tools for diagnosing of anemia and diagnostic significance of this method is twofold in comparison to clinical testing.
