Iron deficiency anaemia is a public health problem in Tanzania especially among children under the age of five years. In
malaria holoendemic areas, control of anaemia by supplementation with
iron has been reported to increase serious adverse events. The World Health Organization recommends that, programs to control anaemia in such areas should go concurrently with
malaria control programmes. The objectives of the study were to: (i) to determine if a supplement providing 2.5 mg of
iron as
ferric EDTA and 2.5 mg of
iron as
ferrous lactate (low dose) is as effective in correcting anaemia as a supplement providing the standard 10 mg of
iron as
ferrous lactate (high dose); and ii) determine if
iron supplementation increased the risk of
malaria. This study was carried out in Mvomero District of east-central Tanzania. Two groups (69 and 70 subjects per treatment) of moderately anaemic children (7.0-9.1 g of Hb/dl), received one of the two
micronutrient supplements differing only in
iron content for a period of 60 days. Results showed that, the average haemoglobin (Hb) concentration improved from 8.30 ± 0.60 g/dl to 11.08 ± 1.25 g/dl. The average weight-for-age for all children increased from 16.0 to 20.6% while their weight-for-height increased from 4.0 to 13.3%. The incidence of asymptomatic and symptomatic
malaria ranged from 10.0 to 10.4% at all time points with no apparent increase in
malaria severity due to
iron supplementation. Overall, there was a significant reduction in anaemia during the 60 day supplementation period. This study demonstrated that,
micronutrient supplements containing low-dose
ferric-EDTA is just as effective as the high dose
iron in reducing anaemia and can be safely utilized in
malaria holoendemic areas to control
iron deficiency anaemia. It is recommended that, a large study should be conducted to affirm the effectiveness of the low-dose
ferric-EDTA in controlling
iron deficiency anaemia among underfive children.