Efficacy of nutritional talks in the prevention of anemia in children from a health center in Chiclayo, Peru

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of nutritional talks at a health center in Chiclayo in reducing and preventing anemia in children from 6 to 36 months of age. Methods: Descriptive cross-sectional study. 78 mothers of children who attended a primary health care center were evaluated. Information on growth assessments was extracted from a database generated by the center. Close to the date of the intervention and in subsequent controls ≥1 month later, the hemoglobin level was recorded, and information was also collected from the participants and attention. Results: 41 children (52.57 %) participated in the nutritional talk, with no significant differences being observed with the children group that did not participate. A higher frequency of anemia was observed in the group that did not participate in the nutritional talk (23.03 %), compared with that did participate (0 %). There was a significant difference in time between Hb evaluations (p<0.001) and the indication of micronutrients (p<0.001) for both groups. Despite this, there was no significant difference between the initial and final Hb values. The groups with anemia were studied, showing a longer time between evaluations and a lower indication of micronutrients with a significant difference of p<0.001 and p= 0.030, respectively. Discussion: The results suggest that the intervention is effective, but the results are not conclusive due to the small number of participants and cases. It is suggested that a multicenter study be carried out to better clarify the efficacy of the intervention.