Table 1.

World Health Organization guidelines for antenatal iron supplementation (WHO, 2012a,b)

Recommendationa	Suggested scheme
Daily oral iron supplementation is recommended as part of the antenatal care to reduce the risk of low birth weight, maternal anaemia and iron deficiency	For prevention, give daily supplementation with 30–60 mg iron throughout pregnancy, starting as early in pregnancy as possible
	In settings where anaemia in pregnant women is a severe public health problem (40% of higher), a daily dose of 60 mg of elemental iron is preferred over a lower dose
	Women with anaemia should be daily supplemented with 120 mg iron until haemoglobin concentration become normal, followed by the standard antenatal dose to prevent recurrence of anaemia
In settings where the prevalence of anaemia among pregnant women is lower than 20%, intermittent use of iron supplements by non‐anaemic pregnant women is recommended to prevent anaemia and improve gestational outcomes	Non‐anaemic pregnant women should receive weekly supplementation with 120 mg iron throughout pregnancy, starting as early in pregnancy as possible

^aIn malaria‐endemic areas, provision of iron and folic acid supplements should be implemented in conjunction with measures to prevent, diagnose and treat malaria.