At Jharkhand, India over 70-90% of Adolescent girls are anaemic. The State provides a once-a-week IFA supplement at schools to prevent anaemia amongst adolescents girls. Last week the state conducted a large screening campaign amongst school going adolescents on voluntary basis. The results showed that over 2% of girls are severely anaemic (<7 gm/dl) and around 70% are moderately anaemic (7-11 gm/dl). These figures are approximation since data is being collated and analysed. The blood was tested by local Health Centre Nurses called Auxillary Nurse-Midwives using the Sahli's technique. All girls were administered a prophylactic dose of anti-helminthics (albendazole) during the screening. Our immediate concern is the treatment protocol. While the girls with Haemoglobin levels with normal levels will continue to get the Once a week Prophylactic IFA dose, what should be done with those with Mild, Moderate, and severe anaemia. The immediate protocol is the severe are referred to the Primary Health Centre where a physician does a clinical examination and reconfirms the anaemic status and then treats the patients (no standard algorithm provided).
Hello, the standard advice on treatment doses, recommended by WHO in their 2001 manual, is: "8.2.5 Iron supplementation to correct iron deficiency anaemia As mentioned earlier in this chapter, it is important to differentiate between supplementation for the prevention of iron deficiency anaemia and supplementation for its correction. The amounts of iron supplementation recommended to treat iron deficiency anaemia for adults is 120 mg/day iron for 3 months. For infants and younger children, it is 3 mg/kg/day, not to exceed 60 mg daily." My suggestion for adolescent girls would be to use 120mg/day for 3 months for severe anaemia; 60mg/day for 3 months for moderate anaemia and 60mg/week for mild anaemia. I hope this is of some use. It would be interesting to hear what you decided on and what impact the programme is having.
Andy Seal
Technical Expert

Answered:

13 years ago
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