ABSTRACT
Anaemia is a public health problem in Morocco. To limit this problem, Morocco developed a national programme based on fortification of flour with electrolytic elemental iron. To evaluate the programme's impact on the prevalence of anaemia in children between 2 and 5 years, 4 surveys were conducted, between 2006 and 2008, throughout the country. The results showed a significant improvement in the mean rate of haemoglobin accompanied by a significant decrease in the prevalence of anaemia. This improvement appears to be the result of several mutually reinforcing actions in addition to the fortification of flour with iron, including the promotion of a diversified diet rich in micronutrients and the promotion of public health measures.
Subject(s)
Anemia, Iron-Deficiency , Child Nutrition Disorders , Flour , Food, Fortified , Iron, Dietary/administration & dosage , Anemia, Iron-Deficiency/diagnosis , Anemia, Iron-Deficiency/epidemiology , Anemia, Iron-Deficiency/prevention & control , Chi-Square Distribution , Child Nutrition Disorders/diagnosis , Child Nutrition Disorders/epidemiology , Child Nutrition Disorders/prevention & control , Child, Preschool , Flour/analysis , Food, Fortified/statistics & numerical data , Health Promotion , Hemoglobins/metabolism , Humans , Morocco/epidemiology , National Health Programs , Nutrition Surveys , Prevalence , Program Evaluation , Public Health Practice , Severity of Illness IndexABSTRACT
Anaemia is a public health problem in Morocco. To limit this problem, Morocco developed a national programme based on fortification of flour with electrolytic elemental iron. To evaluate the programme's impact on the prevalence of anaemia in children between 2 and 5 years, 4 surveys were conducted, between 2006 and 2008, throughout the country. The results showed a significant improvement in the mean rate of haemoglobin accompanied by a significant decrease in the prevalence of anaemia. This improvement appears to be the result of several mutually reinforcing actions in addition to the fortification of flour with iron, including the promotion of a diversified diet rich in micronutrients and the promotion of public health measures
