The impact of regular consumption of iron tablets on changes in hemoglobin levels of female adolescents with anemia in the Aksi Bergizi program: An experimental study

Background: Health problems that often occur in adolescent girls are anemia. The high incidence of anemia, despite the implementation of a blood supplementation tablet program for adolescent girls since 2016, led the government to initiate the Program Aksi Bergizi.  Objectives: This study aims to explain the effect of the implementation of Aksi Bergizi on the regularity of blood supplement tablets consumption and changes in hb levels in anemic adolescent girls. Methods: This research is a quantitative study, which uses a quasi-experiment design with a control group pre-test post-test approach. The parallel design is used to compare between two groups. The population of anemic adolescent girls in class VII of SMPN 2 Sedati was 48 female students. The sample of this study was 48 respondents with total sampling. Data collection techniques by giving knowledge questionnaires, iron consumption monitoring checklists and checking Hb levels with easytouch Hb measuring instruments. The independent variable is the provision of Aksi Bergizi. While the dependent variable is the regularity of iron consumption and changes in Hb levels. Data analysis used Mann Whitney U Test with a significant value of p < 0.05. Results: The results showed that most respondents in the treatment group had good knowledge (41.7%), iron consumption became regular (79%) and hb levels increased by an average of 0.4 gr/dl after the nutritious action program. The results of this study did not apply to the control group who were not given Aksi Bergizi. In the bivariate test, there was an effect of nutritious action program on the regularity of iron consumption with a p value of 0.037 < α (0.05). In addition, there is an effect of Aksi Bergizi on changes in hb levels with a p value of 0.043 < α (0.05). It is concluded that the Aksi Bergizi affects the regularity of consumption of blood supplement tablets and changes in hb levels in anemic adolescent girls.