Of the 68 women who had received prenatal care. 49 had obtained iron tablets. To improve the efficiency of the iron supplementation programme there must be an improvement in the coverage of pre-natal care, in the completeness of iron tablet distribution, and in efforts to assure that the pregnant women actually take the tablets given to them. Introduction Iron deficiency anaemia is a serious public health problem, especially in developing countries. It is the most common nutritional disorder in the world today, affecting over one billion people 1 .
Iron deficiency occurs if the amount of iron absorbed is too little to meet the body's demands.
This may be due to insufficient iron intake, reduced bioavailability of dietary iron, chronic blood loss, or increased iron requirements, as occur during pregnancy or a period of growth 2 . Therefore, iron supplementation seems to be the most appropriate way to improve the situation in a relatively short amount of time 3 . Recurring problems are low service utilization, an inadequate tablet supply, within-facility factors such as health staff motivation, and little patient compliance 8 . This programme is based on the assumption that all pregnant women regularly visit a Community Health Centre or an Integrated Health Service and Nutrition Post to receive prenatal care. However the impact of this programme seems to be limited.