Research Article Prevalence of Anemia and Associated Factors among Secondary School Adolescent Girls in Jimma Town, Oromia Regional State, Southwest Ethiopia Kelemu Fentie , 1 Tolassa Wakayo, 2 andGetuGizaw 2 1 Jimma University Medical Center, Jimma, Ethiopia 2 Department of Human Nutrition and Dietetics, Faculty of Public Health, Institute of Health, Jimma University, Jimma, Ethiopia Correspondence should be addressed to Kelemu Fentie; kelemu.2015fentie@gmail.com Received 11 February 2020; Revised 25 August 2020; Accepted 3 September 2020; Published 22 September 2020 Academic Editor: Ajit C. Gorakshakar Copyright © 2020 Kelemu Fentie et al. is is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Background. Anemia defined as a low blood hemoglobin concentration is public health importance. e adolescence age group is the most neglected in public health and nutrition research as priorities are usually given to pregnant women, lactating mothers, and their children less than 2 years. Current Ethiopian Food and Nutrition policy included adolescent girls in the most at-risk group for nutritional demands; however, only a few published studies have assessed a deficiency of anemia and associated factors to tackle the intergenerational cycle of malnutrition. Objective. To assess the prevalence of anemia and associated factors among high school adolescent girls in Jimma town. Methods. Data were collected from 528 secondary school adolescent girls by a school- based cross-sectional study design in Jimma town from 1/1/2019 to 1/2/2019, southwest Ethiopia. A multistage sampling technique was used to select the study participants. A portable battery-operated HemoCue Hb 301+ analyzer was used to measure the hemoglobin level, and then reading was classified as normal Hb ≥ 12 g\dl and anemic if the hemoglobin value <12 g/dl based on the WHO 2011 recommended cutoff points after adjustments to altitude was made. Bivariate analysis at p value ≤0.25 was considered as a candidate for multivariable logistic regression. Multivariable logistic regression was done to control for con- founders and to identify factors independently associated with anemia. Level of statistical significance was declared at p < 0.05. Results. A total of 528 adolescent girls were included in the study yielding a response rate of 95.8%. e prevalence of anemia was found to be 26.7%, 95% CI (22.7, 30.50). In multivariate logistic regression analysis, those living separately from their family (AOR � 4.430, 95% CI (2.20, 8.90)), low dietary diversity score (AOR � 3.57, 95% CI (1.88, 6.75)), menstrual bleeding more than 5 days (AOR � 2.25, 95% CI (1.17, 4.33)), and low economic status (AOR � 2.16, 95% CI (1.17, 4.33)) were positively associated factors with anemia and only having at least a secondary school in mother’s educational status AOR � 0.43, 95% CI (0.18, 0.97) was negatively associated with anemia in the study area. Conclusion. Prevalence of anemia among school adolescent girls was moderate public health importance according to the World Health Organization prevalence estimation of anemia. e living condition of the adolescent girls, dietary diversity score, duration of menses, and low economic status were positive predictor variables, whereas mothers who are being secondary school and above was a protective factor for anemia. erefore, iron-rich and di- versified food consumption should be given attention. 1.Introduction Adolescents are young people between the ages of 10 and 19 years [1]. More than 1.2 billion adolescents are found in the world. e vast majority of adolescents (90%) live in low- or middle-income countries (LMICs) [2]. Adolescents and children constitute about 48% of the Ethiopian population, and about 25% of this age group is girls [3]. It is a period of rapid growth when up to 45% of skeletal growth takes place and 15 to 25% of adult height is achieved during this period [4]. During the growth spurt of adolescence, up to 37% of total bone mass may be accumulated. Although, nutrition influences growth and development throughout infancy, childhood, and adolescence, pieces of evidence show that Hindawi Anemia Volume 2020, Article ID 5043646, 11 pages https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/5043646