Maternal medicine: Randomised trial of vitamin A supplementation in pregnant women in rural Malawi found to be anaemic on screening by HemoCue

Abstract

Vitamin A supplementation programmes to reduce anaemia should not be implemented in similar antenatal populations in rural sub-Saharan Africa unless evidence emerges of positive benefit on substantive clinical outcomes. Introducing public health interventions of unknown benefit and with unclear biological mechanisms can divert scarce resources from clinical and social interventions more likely to impact maternal mortality.