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HEALTH

The Claim

Anemia is one of the most prevalent public health problems in Peru, especially among children under 5 years old.

Verified by Lenz ·

The Short Version

The evidence strongly supports the claim’s core message. Official Peruvian data, WHO/PAHO materials, UNICEF, and peer-reviewed studies consistently show anemia is a major public health problem in Peru, with especially high prevalence among young children, often around one-third to over two-fifths in key under-5 age groups. The wording is broad rather than precisely ranked, but not misleading.

Caveats

  • "One of the most prevalent" is a qualitative claim; the sources support importance and widespread prevalence, but do not provide a formal ranking against every other public health problem in Peru.
  • Many reported prevalence figures are for narrower child age bands, especially 6–35 months or 6–59 months, not all children under 5 uniformly.
  • Reported percentages vary by year, region, and methodology, including altitude-related hemoglobin adjustments, so a single national number should not be treated as fixed.

The Receipts

  1. Addressing Anemia in Peru

    Reach Alliance

  2. Anemia crisis among children in Peru: a scoping review

    PAHO/WHO IRIS

  3. Situación Actual de la Anemia - Contenido 1

    Instituto Nacional de Salud (INS) – Perú

  4. El 34,9% de la población de 6 a 35 meses de edad sufrió de anemia en el 2025

    Gobierno del Perú – INEI

  5. Evaluation of Peruvian Government Interventions to Reduce Maternal and Child Anemia in Madre de Dios, Peru

    Annals of Global Health

  6. Inequalities in anemia among Peruvian children aged 6–59 months

    PubMed Central

  7. Anaemia in children aged 6–59 months, prevalence (%) (2021 edition)

    World Health Organization

  8. Prevalence of anemia among children (% of children ages 6–59 months) – Peru

    World Bank

  9. Anemia infantil en Perú: el 43.1% de bebés y niños menores de tres años son los más afectados

    Infobae

  10. Extreme Variability of Anemia Prevalence in Peruvian Children Based on Different Altitude Correction Factors: A Cross-Sectional Study

    PubMed

+ 14 more sources — see the full list on Lenz

Filed Under

anemiaPeru

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