Background: More than one billion people worldwide are affected with anemia. Studies have shown that nutritional deficiency, particularly a decrease in iron-rich food consumed, seems to be the most common cause of anemia. Objective: To study some demographic characteristics of anemia in children of different residencies of Diyala governorate/ Iraq. Patients and Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study piloted in Al-Batool Teaching hospital in Baqubah / Diyala- Iraq from February 1st to Sept 30th 2019. Children was categorized according to the residency into two groups (rural & urban regions), anemia was sorted according to WHO classification: normal Hb 11 gm/dL, mild anemia 10- 10.9 gm/dL, moderate 7- 9.9 gm/ dL, and severe anemia Hb < 7 gm/dl. Results: One hundred seventeen children aged 6 months – 9 years were included in the study; 58.1% males and 41.9% females, 104 children 88.9% were less than 3.5 years, and 13 (11.1% ) children of 3.5 years and more. Sixteen children 13.7% were having normal Hb level and the remaining was anemic as follow: 35.9% mild anemia, 46.1% moderate anemia, 4.3% severe anemia, p-value 0.000. It was found that 57.3% of children belongs to family lived in urban areas, while 50 (42.7%) of them live in rural areas. The number of children who had moderate anemia was more in rural areas, p-value 0.008. Conclusion: Most of the studied children had a moderate degree of anemia and this might be due to many factors, including a residency in rural areas. Keywords: Anemia,Children, Diyala , Iraq

Background: Bilirubin associated brain damage is great in the preterm and low birth weight newborns. Phototherapy is able to control the level of bilirubin in low birth weight newborns. Objective:To show the role of prophylactic phototherapy in the management of very low birth weight newborns weighting(1-1.5)kg with hyperbilirubinemia in comparison to therapeutic method. Patients and Methods: Across sectional study; Very low birth weight newborns weighting (1-1.5)kg were included in the study and admitted to neonatal care unit because of their very low birth weight and family consent had taken about admission and prophylactic phototherapy from some families so the total number of newborns was forty, twenty newborns were received phototherapy within nine hours of birth and lasted for seven days while twenty newborns were received phototherapy when indicated according to birth weight and continued to seventh day after birth , analysis was made for mean daily bilirubin level , duration of phototherapy , peak bilirubin level in the prophylactic and therapeutic groups and blood exchange need. Results: The highest daily mean level of total serum bilirubin(TSB) of prophylactic group was 6.5±0.4 mg/dl, which happened on the fifth day. In the therapeutic group, it was 8.7±0.5 mg/dl on the fifth day after birth. There was significant difference in the TSB values of prophylactic group which was less than that of therapeutic group from second to sixth days(p<0.0001). The median duration of phototherapy in the treatment group was shorter than that of the prophylactic group. Conclusion: Prophylactic phototherapy in very low birth weight preterm infants weighting (1-1.5) kg can significantly decrease jaundice after birth compared with the therapeutic group, also this study indicate that there is significant high TSB level among males in both groups in comparison to females.