Iron and folic acid supplementation and malaria risk.

This article reports on studies by Sunil Sazawal and James Tielsch, and their respective colleagues, that are important to the international public-health community. Parallel studies done in Pemba, Tanzania, and Nepal used children aged less than three years old for carefully designed cluster-randomized double-masked intervention trials. Enrolled children received supervised at-home supplementation with iron plus folic acid, zinc, iron plus folic acid plus zinc, or placebo in a factorial design, and were followed up for an average of about a year. The studies aimed to provide definitive evidence on the risks or benefits of these interventions in settings where iron deficiency is common and child mortality is high.