Iron Supplementation for Controlling Anaemia in Pregnancy by Involving FCHVs in Saralahi

Abstract

Anaemia in pregnancy, mainly iron deficiency, is a public health problem. The present study aimed to determine the effect of iron supplementation in pregnant women in Saralahi District for reducing the prevalence of anaemia. For this purpose 80 pregnant women, with haemoglobin >7.0g/dl in 12-34 weeks of pregnancy, were selected in the study by using participation of FCHVs. Giving 120 mg of iron supplementation per day for 1 month, their haemoglobins were reassessed to determine the effects of iron.

The prevalence of anaemia in the current study found was 52.5%. The mean haemoglobin (n=80) was 10.585 g/dl with confidence limits of 10.31-10.86 (5% significance level).

After iron supplementation, the prevalence of anaemia was reduced to 2.5% (P=0.001 at 99.73 confidence level). The mean haemoglobin was increased to 13.14 g/dl. (P=0.001). The per day increase of haemoglobin was 0.09 g/dl. The increase in haemoglobin was inversely related to the severity of anaemia (r = - 0.93, P < 0.001). The increase in haemoglobin after Fe supplementation was more in the group of pregnant women of the third trimester than in the group of pregnant women of the second trimester. The increase was highly significant (P < 0.01).