Bibliographic Info
GuidelineWHO recommendations on maternal health: guidelines approved by the WHO Guidelines Review Committee, second edition. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2025
Year of Publication2023
Issuing InstitutionWorld Health Organization
Recommendation
Status
Updated
Recommended against
Strong
Certainty of evidence
Very low
Routine use of multiple micronutrient powders during pregnancy is not recommended as an alternative to standard iron and folic supplementation during pregnancy for improving maternal and infant health outcomes
Notes and Remarks
- 1.Evidence to date shows no added value of multiple micronutrient powders over iron and folic acid supplementation in pregnant women.
- 2.An efficient system for the routine collection of relevant data, including therapeutic adherence and measures of programme performance, is critical to ensure programmes are effective and sustained, especially iron and folic acid supplementation
- 3.Monitoring is key to identifying barriers that might be sustaining unequal access to antenatal care, including iron and folic supplementation. Sustained implementation and scale-up largely benefit from appropriate monitoring mechanisms, as well as sustained behaviour-change interventions.