Scope and purpose

This guideline provides global, evidence-informed recommendations on the intermittent use of iron supplements for preschool and school-age children as a public health intervention to improve iron status and reduce the risk of childhood iron deficiency anaemia.

The guideline will help Member States and their partners in their efforts to make informed decisions on the appropriate nutrition actions to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, in particular, the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger (MDG 1), achievement of universal primary education (MDG 2) and reduction of child mortality (MDG 4). The guideline is intended for a wide audience including policy makers, their expert advisers, and technical and programme staff at organizations involved in the design, implementation and scaling-up of nutrition actions for public health.

This document presents the key recommendation and a summary of the supporting evidence. Further details of the evidence base are provided in Annex 1 and other documents listed in the references.