Iron Supplementation among children in Afghanistan

Iron deficiency (ID) remains the most pervasive nutritional deficiency worldwide. The prevalence rate for IDA in young children exceeds 50 % in low-income countries resulting in impaired immune response and cognitive function. The American Academy of Pediatrics and World Health Organization (WHO) has proposed recommendations for the prevention of iron deficiency including enrichment of foods with iron giving iron-rich formulas when breast milk is insufficient and avoiding cow’s milk in the first year of life. Afghanistan is one of those poor settings countries where the prevalence of ID and IDA are at a higher level. The national nutrition survey 2013 showed that 40% of women and 44.9% of children were anemic and 26.1% of children aged 6-59 months were iron deficient.