Iron supplementation program as an indicator of the quality of attendance provided by primary health care services

CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVE: Iron deficiency anemia probably represents the most important nutritional problem of the Brazilian population. The quantification of hemoglobin concentration in the diagnosis of iron deficiency is of great importance for the planning of programs by the primary health services. The aim was to develop a proposal for the prevention and control of iron deficiency anemia in the first two years of life among children attended by three different types of Health Services in the South region of São Paulo city.
DESIGN AND SETTING: experimental study in units of health of the Southern region of the municipal district of Sao Paulo.
METHODS: A total of 357 children were studied, from 2000 to 2003, and 103 of these returned for follow-up. The impact of the program was evaluated by comparing the prevalence of anemia at baseline and then at the end of the study period.
RESULTS: Our results corroborated the fact that irrespective of the quality of the health services in question, a prophylactic iron supplementation program has proven to be an appropriate option for the prevention of iron deficiency anemia in the first years of life.
CONCLUSION: A comparison between the three types of primary health service demonstrated the validity of the hypothesis that anemia prevalence rates can be used as an indicator of the relative quality of health services.
KEY WORDS: 1) Iron deficiency anemia. 2) Health services 3) Children  4) Evaluation research
5) Dietary Supplementation