Abstract: Objective To understand the prevalence of anemia and eating behaviors among primary and secondary school students in poor areas of central China,and to provide a basis for improving the health education in schools and enhancing the self-health care consciousness in students.Methods A total of 5 942 students were selected from 32 primary and secondary schools in 8 counties of poor rural areas in northeastern,central,northwestern,southwestern Hubei Province for hemoglobin testing by stratified cluster sampling method.And 2 569 students were selected for questionnaire from students of grade four and five.Results For primary and secondary students,the detecting rate of anemia was 14.05% and 14.86%,respectively (x2 =0.680,P>0.05).For male and female students,the detecting rate was 12.55% and 16.72%,respectively (x2 =20.666,P<0.01).For students aged 6,7,8(15.24%,23.3%,17.72%),and 16(19.85%),the detecting rate was high.The number of primary and secondary students eating breakfast in poor areas was 74.42%,47.29% of whichcould have enough for breakfast;the annual average consumption frequency of fresh fruit,livestock and poultry meat,fish,shellfish,eggs,milk and its products and soy products were not high;To comparatively analyze the problem of how to prevent iron deficiency anemia,the correct awareness rate of primary and secondary school students were 24.09% and 31.61%,respectively,and the differences were of statistical significance (x2 =18.080,P<0.01).Conclusion The anemia prevalence among primary and secondary students is higher in poor rural areas of Central China,thus school health education should be strengthened to effectively prevent the occurrence of anemia among students of high risk age.