Health Workers’ Perspectives on Barriers to Adolescent Anemia Prevention Programs: Evidence from Bandung Regency, Indonesia

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-571-3_8How to use a DOI?

Keywords

adolescent anemia; individual challenges; gap communication; social support

Abstract

Adolescent anemia remains a major public health concern, particularly among adolescent girls in developing countries. Despite national efforts to reduce prevalence through iron supplementation programs, progress has been limited due to barriers that arise across multiple levels of implementation. This study explored the multilevel barriers to adolescent anemia prevention from the perspective of health workers in Bandung Regency, West Java, Indonesia. Using a qualitative descriptive design, data were collected through in-depth interviews with 12 informants, comprising 10 community health center staff members and 2 district health office representatives. Thematic analysis identified four interrelated categories of barriers: (1) individual-level challenges, such as low awareness, weak perceived threat, disbelief in iron tablet benefits, and unhealthy body image, driven behaviors; (2) communication gaps between health workers, adolescents, parents, and schools; (3) fragmented social support, including negative peer influence and limited family engagement; and (4) structural barriers, such as inefficient logistics, inadequate human resources, and weak cross-sector coordination. These findings indicate that adolescent anemia prevention programs need to strengthen health communication strategies, enhance family and peer engagement, and improve coordination between health workers and schools, particularly in semi-urban settings where disparities in access, resources, and social support may influence program implementation

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Fenti Yulianti
AU  - Muhammad Akhyar
AU  - Sapja Anantanyu
AU  - Budiyanti Wiboworini
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/05/06
TI  - Health Workers’ Perspectives on Barriers to Adolescent Anemia Prevention Programs: Evidence from Bandung Regency, Indonesia
BT  - Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Multidisciplinary Studies 2025 (ICOMSI 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 90
EP  - 102
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-571-3_8
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-571-3_8
ID  - Yulianti2026
ER  -