en public specific orginal article <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="line-height:115%"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times=""><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="line-height:115%"><span style="letter-spacing:-.2pt">Background</span></span></span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="line-height:115%"><span style="letter-spacing:-.2pt">: The present cross-sectional study was conducted to measure the population attributable risk (PAR) of severe anemia among children aged 6-23 months in the rural district of Kongoussi, in Burkina Faso. <b>Methods</b>: Socio-demographic, clinical, anthropometric, and biological data were collected from children and mothers. <b>Results:</b> In total, 671 children were included in the analysis, 50.4% of whom were male and 97.8% were breastfed. Only 5.8% of the children had adequate complementary feeding, 25.8% were wasted, and 23.5% stunted. Malaria affected about half (50.8%) of children; 39.3% had mild malaria and 11.5% had severe malaria. Children who were no longer breastfed were more likely to have malaria [OR = 3.98 (1.11-14.2), <i>P</i> = 0.022] than those who were breastfed. Fever in the last fortnight [OR = 1.49 (1.07-2.08), <i>P</i> = 0.019], current fever [OR = 4.30 (2.39-7.76), <i>P</i> < 0.001], and presence of splenomegaly [OR = 2.68 (1.54-4.67), <i>P</i> < 0.001] were also positively associated with malaria. Anemia and severe anemia had a prevalence of 96.8% and 24.4%, respectively, and were associated with both mild and severe malaria. Body mass index of mothers [OR = 1.82 (1.06-3.12), <i>P</i> = 0.029], diarrhea in the last fortnight [OR = 1.70 (1.06-2.71), <i>P</i> = 0.027], stunting [OR = 1.54 (1.01-2.34), <i>P</i> = 0.045], and splenomegaly [OR = 2.93 (1.70-5.06), <i>P</i> = 0.045] were other independent factors associated with severe anemia. The PARs of severe anemia due to mild and severe malaria were 22.1% (6.1%-35.4%) and 22.0% (11.6%-27.7%), respectively. <b>Conclusion</b>: Given the high frequency of anemia and severe anemia in this rural malaria-endemic area, interventions are required that consider the important contribution of malaria to anemia and aim to prevent infection.</span></span></span></span></span></span><br> <br> &nbsp;</div> Malaria, Severe anemia, Children, Impact, Burkina Faso 496 507 http://jnfs.ssu.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-308-2&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Augustin Nawidimbasba Zeba nawidzeba@gmail.com 0000-0002-0271-7414 Yes Health Sciences Research Institute /Western Regional Direction (HSRI/WRD), 01 BP 545 Hermann Zosé Ouedraogo 0000-0002-0907-1556 No Health Sciences Research Institute /Western Regional Direction (HSRI/WRD), 01 BP 545 Alain Hien 0000-0002-3476-3570 No Centre Muraz / National Institute of Public Health, BP 10287 Ouaga Zogona Burkina Faso.