Washington: Child mortality could be dramatically reduced if mothers take iron-folic acid supplements regularly during pregnancy, claims a new study.
According to researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, "In a setting where maternal iron deficiency and anaemia are common, we found a 31 percent reduction in childhood mortality due to maternal antenatal and postnatal supplementation with iron-folic acid".
Researchers found that other supplement combinations, including the multiple micronutrient supplement, did not confer the same benefit.
Nearly 40 percent of pregnant women worldwide are estimated to be anaemic. Although there is an international policy for antenatal iron-folic acid supplementation, coverage and use of this antenatal intervention is low in many developing countries, American Journal of Epidemiology
reported.
"A reduction in mortality resulting from an intervention, such as iron-folic acid supplementation during pregnancy, provides a new and previously unreported evidence of benefit to offspring during childhood," said Parul Christian, who led the study.
This is the first time the long-term effects of maternal iron-folic acid supplementation on childhood survival have been examined.
Bureau Report