BackgroundAnaemia is a major public health problem in developing countries, contributing significantly to morbidity and mortality amongst children under-five years of age. About 43 % of under-fives are anaemic worldwide, and two-thirds reside in sub-Saharan Africa. Even where blood transfusion is available for treatment there is still a significant case fatality rate ranging between 6 and 18 %. This study aimed to determine the prevalence and morphological types of anaemia, as well as factors associated with severe anaemia in under-five children admitted at Bugando Medical Centre (BMC).MethodsThis was a hospital-based, cross-sectional study conducted between November 2012 and February 2013. Selected laboratory investigations were done on children admitted to BMC. Anaemia was defined using WHO criteria.ResultsA total of 448 under-five children were recruited into the study. The overall prevalence of anaemia was 77.2 % (346/448) with mild, moderate and severe anaemia being 16.5, 33 and 27.7 % respectively. Microcytic hypochromic anaemia was detected in 37.5 % of the children with anaemia. Of 239 children with moderate and severe anaemia, 22.6 % (54/239) had iron deficiency anaemia based on serum ferritin level less than12 μg/ml. The factors associated with severe anaemia included unemployment of the parent, malaria parasitaemia and presence of sickle haemoglobin.ConclusionThe prevalence of anaemia among under-five children admitted at BMC was high. Iron deficiency anaemia was the most common type. Factors associated with severe anaemia were unemployment among caretakers, malaria parasitaemia and presence of sickle haemoglobin.

Globally, women experience a disproportionate burden of disease and death due to inequities in access to basic health care, nutrition, and education. In the face of this disparity, it is striking that leadership in the field of global health is highly skewed towards men and that global health organizations neglect the issue of gender equality in their own leadership. Randomized trials demonstrate that women in leadership positions in governmental organizations implement different policies than men and that these policies are more supportive of women and children. Other studies show that proactive interventions to increase the proportion of women in leadership positions within businesses or government can be successful. Therefore, the authors assert that increasing female leadership in global health is both feasible and a fundamental step towards addressing the problem of women’s health. In this article, the authors contrast the high proportion of young female trainees who are interested in academic global health early in their careers with the low numbers of women successfully rising to global health leadership roles. The authors subsequently explore reasons for female attrition from the field of global health and offer practical strategies for closing the gender gap in global health leadership. The authors propose solutions aimed to promote female leaders from both resource-wealthy and resource-poor countries, including leadership training grants, mentorship from female leaders in global professions, strengthening health education in resource-poor countries, research-enabling grants, and altering institutional policies to support women choosing a global health career path.