Modeling the impact of campaign program on the prevalence of anemia in children under five

Anemia model

Abstract

Anemia, a global health problem, is increasing worldwide and affecting both developed and developing
countries. Being a blood disorder, anemia may occur in any stages of life but it is quite common in children
under the age of five. Globally, iron deficiency is the supreme contributor towards the onset of anemia. In this
paper, a general model based on the dynamics of anemia among children under five is formulated. The population
is divided in three classes such as susceptible, affected and treated. A time-dependent control measure
namely campaign program is considered. The model has an equilibrium point and the stability of the point
is analyzed. Moreover, sensitivity of the equilibrium point is also performed to discover the critical parameters.
Numerical simulations are carried out to observe the dynamic behavior of the model. Results show
that campaign program is effective in minimizing the disease progression. The number of child patients and
yearly deaths significantly decrease with accelerated campaign program that is implemented earlier whereas
termination of the applied measure may upturn the burden. Findings also reveal that application of control
measure helps to reduce the prevalence of anemia but may not eliminate the disease.