A comprehensive systematic review and meta-analysis of the prevalence of anemia in Africa

Abstract: The incidence of anemia in Africa is still of major epidemiological significance. This study aims to determine the prevalence of anemia in Africa through a systematic review and meta-analysis of the published studies. We conducted a comprehensive search across five electronic databases (Web of Science, PubMed, ScienceDirect, Scopus, and Google Scholar) using specific keywords to address the prevalence of anemia following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses guidelines. A meta-analysis was performed on our eligible studies using the random-effects model. Our search returned 101 eligible articles involving 79,572 anemia cases in 14 African nations. The overall pooled prevalence of anemia in Africa was 29.2% (95% confidence interval: 25.2%–33.7% I2 = 99.28%). Subgroup analyses revealed variations in the prevalence across different countries, study designs, maturity status of participants, and publication years. Notably, Egypt and South Africa exhibited high prevalence rates of 99.5% and 85.6%, respectively, whereas Ethiopia reported a moderately low prevalence of 19.3%. The maturity status also influenced prevalence rates, with children indicating a higher prevalence (58.8%) compared to adults (21%). The study highlights the significant burden of anemia in Africa; the findings underscore the need for targeted public health interventions and improved standard of living to manage and control anemia in the region.