Anaemia is a shortage of red blood cells or of haemoglobin, and iron deficiency is its most common cause. The World Health Organization estimated in 2021 that about 30 percent of women aged 15 to 49 and about 40 percent of children aged 6 to 59 months were anaemic. Iron deficiency in pregnancy raises the risk of low birth weight and maternal death; in young children it impairs development.
Supplementation
Daily iron and folic acid tablets for pregnant women are the oldest intervention and remain a WHO recommendation, with 30 to 60 mg of elemental iron a day. Adherence is the weak point: side effects and irregular supply mean that many women take far fewer tablets than prescribed. For non-pregnant women and adolescent girls in areas with high anaemia prevalence, WHO recommends intermittent (weekly) supplementation, which is better tolerated. For young children, multiple micronutrient powders sprinkled on food have largely replaced iron drops.
Fortification
Adding iron to a staple food reaches whole populations without behaviour change. More than eighty countries mandate wheat or maize flour fortification, and the form of iron matters: sodium iron EDTA and ferrous sulphate are well absorbed, whereas the cheap elemental iron powders used in some early programmes barely work. Rice fortification and double-fortified salt (iodine plus iron) are more recent options.
Beyond iron
Not all anaemia is iron deficiency. Malaria, hookworm, sickle-cell disease, thalassaemia and inflammation all contribute, which is why iron alone often produces disappointing results in surveys. Deworming, malaria control and delayed cord clamping at birth are part of any serious anaemia strategy. Improving the diet, in particular with foods rich in vitamin C that aid iron absorption, is the long-term measure.
The global nutrition targets set by the World Health Assembly aimed to halve anaemia in women of reproductive age by 2025; progress has been slow and the target has been carried forward to 2030. This site is an independent reference and is not linked to the former MOST programme.
