The Effect of School-Based Program of Iron Supplementation in Preventing and Controlling Iron Deficiency Anemia Among Adolescent Girls: Literature Reviews

Abstract

The iron nutrition supplementation is an intervening strategy in tackling the anaemia deficiency among children and adolescent girls for the realization of a healthy and productive generation. To measure the effect of iron supplementation programs in increasing the concentration of haemoglobin and serum ferritin for the prevention and control of iron deficiency. The literature review was conducted using the sources from PubMed, Ebsco Health and Google Scholar database. Searches were limited to journals published between 2010 and 2019. There were 11 articles related to the effects of iron supplementation programs and iron fortification in schools. The articles discussed the intervention study that assessed the effects of iron supplementation in increasing the level of haemoglobin and serum ferritin. We found that there were variations in hematologic responses. Additionally, there was a significant increase in the level of haemoglobin and serum ferritin after the intervention of the program. The main predictor of the increase of the level of haemoglobin was the initial status of Hb. We also found, however, that there were insignificant results in the samples with high initial haemoglobin level as well the intervention with the lack of supervision. Moreover, we found that during the period of 12-to-24-week intervention with frequency of the iron supplementation once a week, the concentration of haemoglobin decreased from 121.5 g/l, and on the 36 th week, there was a decrease of haemoglobin level to 119.1 g/l. The occurrence of the side effect of iron varies based on the frequency of the intervention. The implementation of a school-based program of iron supplementation is effective to increase the levels of Hb and ferritin in blood. The management of the program needs to involve the family members in terms of monitoring the constancy and the side effects. The sustainability of the program needs to be strengthened through education and motivation to teachers and students as well as the development of a comprehensive integrated system for the prevention and control of anaemia deficiency.