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Introduction: Anemia is most common morbidity in pregnancy and micronutrient deficiency is its most common cause in India. Objective: It is to assess the beneficiary effects as well as side effects of single parenteral administration of ferric carboxymaltose (FCM), Vitamin B12, and folic acid as treatment of severe anemia during pregnancy. Methods: This pre-post intervention study was done from April 2018 to March 2019 at a charitable hospital. 100 pregnant women were treated with one infusion of FCM (1000 mg), along with intramuscular Vitamin B12 (500 mcg) and folic acid (15 mg) followed by daily oral supplementation of iron (100 mg) up to delivery. Results: Compared to baseline, absolute increase in hemoglobin was 2.9 g/dl (P < 0.001) and 5.4 g/dl (P < 0.001) after 6 weeks of infusion and at delivery, respectively. 63.9% of women turned nonanemic and none had severe anemia at delivery. No serious side effect was reported and none needed blood transfusion at any time during the study. Conclusion: FCM along with Vitamin B12 and folic acid might be considered for treating severe anemia in pregnancy in resource-poor settings.

Background: Anemia during adolescence affects growth and development of girls and boys increasing their vulnerability to dropping out-of-school. Hence investing in preventing anemia during adolescence is critical for their survival, growth and development. Objective: To find out the burden of anemia on adolescent age group in the tribal area of Jhagadia block and to assess the change in the hemoglobin level through the weekly Iron and Folic Acid IFA (DOTS) directly observed treatment supplementation under Supervision by Peer Educators at Community level among adolescents. Methods: Community based intervention study conducted with adolescents (117 girls and 127 boys) aged 10-19 years, through supplementation of IFA (DOTS) by trained Peer Educators for 52 weeks in 5 tribal villages of Jhagadia. Hemoglobin level was determined by HemoCue method before and after intervention and sickle cell anemia by Electrophoresis method. Primary data on hemoglobin and number of tablets consumed was collected and statistically analyzed in SPSS 16.0 software by applying paired t-test. Results: The overall findings suggest that the prevalence of anemia reduced from 79.5% to 58% among adolescent girls and from 64% to 39% among boys. Mean rise of hemoglobin seen was 1.5 g/dl among adolescent boys and 1.3 g/dl among girls. A significant association was found in change in hemoglobin before and after intervention (P = 0.000) Conclusion: Prevalence of anemia among girls and boys can be reduced in their adolescent phase of life, through weekly supplementation of iron folic acid tablets under direct supervision and Nutrition Education by Peer Educator at community level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a case study conducted to examine the effectiveness of the maternity schemes in Gujarat to increase institutional deliveries. It mentions that the study is based on a secondary analysis of community based data collected by village level frontline workers of SEWA‑Rural (SR), a NGO located in Jhagadia block of Gujarat since 1980. It concludes that most of the women who delivered at hospital after initiation of maternity schemes chose hospital for subsequent delivery.