LUCKNOW: Strengthening efforts to cut preventable maternal and newborn deaths, the Uttar Pradesh health department has rolled out one-shot iron injections to tackle anaemia among pregnant women.
More than 20,000 doses of the injection were administered in the pilot,” Jowel said on Friday. As per Union health ministry’s Anaemia Mukt Bharat operational framework and findings from clinical maternal death audits, anaemia is a direct or indirect contributor to an estimated 40% to 50% of maternal deaths. In Uttar Pradesh, Maternal Death Surveillance and Response (MDSR) records classify severe anaemia as the direct cause in roughly 7% to 19% of cases.
Health officials said FCM can reduce repeated visits to health facilities compared with Iron Sucrose, which often requires multiple sessions to complete a dose course. Officials said the step would help streamline procurement and ensure availability at public health facilities, alongside training of doctors and staff nurses and awareness-building among beneficiaries. “The one-shot injection is called Ferric Carboxymaltose (FCM) and allows greater compliance of medicine. By delivering treatment in a single sitting, the injection is expected to ease access for women in rural and hard-to-reach areas and improve continuity of care. Buoyed by the response to the pilot, the department has placed the injection on the state’s essential medicines list. Hospital reviews have also indicated that more than half of women who died had haemoglobin levels below seven units on admission.