Objectives
Despite the fact that maternal mortality has declined significantly lately in Morocco, there are still signs of high prevalence of micronutrients deficiencies in a large segment of the population.The aim of this study is to evaluate the impact of consumption of fortified wheat flour with elemental iron and folates on the status of women of childbearing age (15 to 49y)
Methods
The study was conducted in 38 health centers. SES assessment and hemoglobin test were performed for2151 non-pregnant women. Blood samples were withdrawn from subsamples to determine the serum ferritin and folic acid
Results
The results showed that 34.2% of analyzed women were anemic (hemoglobin <12 g / dl). Anemia affects the rural region as much as the urban and suburban. It is more prevalent among young women (15 to 20y). The level of women education slightly influences the rate of anemia. Thus, the percentage of anemic women is higher among women with little or no education and decreases depending on the level of education. The subsampling for iron deficiency (n = 213) and folic acid deficiency (n = 470) showed that 28.2% of women of childbearing age have iron deficiency (serum ferritin <15µg / l) and 30.4% have a folic acid deficiency (folate<3 ng / ml).
Conclusions
After five years of marketing of wheat flour fortified with elemental iron there was no improvement in iron status of women in childbearing age. A change of the premix into iron fumarate and/or iron EDTA may be a solution
