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Project Description:
In Ghana, anemia affects a high percentage of young children. This is partly due to a lack of iron in the diet of young children. Alternative approaches are needed to supply the iron as well as other micronutrients needed for proper growth and immune function. Much of the evidence demonstrating that Sprinkles work in treating and preventing anemia in young children comes from Ghana. Since 1999, a successful partnership has been established with the Kintampo Health Research Centre. Within this research collaboration, a number of community-based research studies have been conducted. We are now working on scaling up the Sprinkles intervention in Ghana so that children will benefit from them nationally.
Key Findings:
Sprinkles achieved a similar cure rate as compared to the 'gold standard', iron drops in children aged 6-18 months.
An intervention as short as 2 months was adequate for anemia reduction.
In most children who were successfully treated for anemia, further intervention was not needed up to 18 months post-intervention.
Sprinkles (with or without added zinc) were efficacious to treat anemia.
A12.5 mg iron dose (as recommended by WHO) was efficacious to reduce anemia prevalence.
Both the iron and zinc in Sprinkles are adequately absorbed and infants with iron deficiency anemia absorbed iron from Sprinkles about twice as efficiently as iron deficient or non-anaemic infants.
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