EFFECTIVENESS OF WEEKLY SUPPLEMENTATION OF IRON TO CONTROL ANAEMIA AMONG ADOLESCENT GIRLS

Background and Aim: It is prudent to recommend the correction of iron stores before the woman becomes pregnant. ‘Efficacy’ of weekly supplementation of iron has been proved to improve iron stores in adolescence in many studies abroad and in Iran. The objective was to study the ‘effectiveness’ of a weekly iron-supplementation regimen among girls of Ardebil, IranMethods: A baseline and the mid-term assessments were done using the cluster-sampling techniques. In each stratum, 30 clusters were identified. Twelve and 10 adolescent girls from each cluster were identified in the baseline and mid-term surveys respectively. The haemoglobin estimation was done using the HemoCue system. Data were analyzed using the Epi Info software (version 6.04). Results: The overall prevalence of anaemia came down significantly to 54.3% from 65.3%.The decline was statistically significant (p<0.001) among girls (46.7% from 54.3%). Similarly, a significant rise in the mean haemoglobin levels was seen Conclusion: Considering the biological and operational feasibility and the effectiveness of the intervention, weekly supplementation of iron to adolescent girls should be universally started to correct the iron stores of a woman before she becomes pregnant

Keywords:

Adolescents , Anemia , Iron-deficiency , Iron , Iron supplementation , Nutrition , Iran