National Iron Plus Initiative: Current status & future strategy.

Anaemia is a severe public health problem amongst all vulnerable age groups in India. The National Nutritional Anaemia Prophylaxis Programme initiated in 1970, was revised and expanded to include beneficiaries from all age groups namely children aged 6-59 months, 5-10 yr, adolescents aged 10-19 yr, pregnant and lactating women and women in reproductive age group under the National Iron Plus Initiative (NIPI) programme in 2011. The dose of iron, frequency and duration of iron supplementation and roles and responsibilities of the functionaries were described. At present, the coverage of beneficiaries with iron and folic acid has been poor at the national level. The prevalence of anaemia has continued to remain high during the last 60 years, and there has been no significant change in the scenario due to various reasons. The constraints in implementation and measures to improve the NIPI programme are discussed in the current article.

Bone marrow dyspoiesis associated with severe refractory anaemia in liver cirrhosis.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Peripheral cytopaenias and dyspoiesis are common in cirrhosis; however, the prevalence of dyspoiesis and its contribution in cirrhosis-related cytopaenias has not been studied. We aimed to study the bone marrow (BM) dyspoiesis and its impact on peripheral blood cell counts and refractory anaemia in patients with cirrhosis. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We reviewed all the BM aspirates and biopsies of cirrhotic cases, done from 2011 to 2018 for clinical indications. Dyspoiesis was considered if >5% of the precursor cells of any of the three lineages showed dyspoietic changes. Primary haematological or non-haematological malignancies, chronic kidney disease, drug intake, acute and chronic hepatitis and granulomatous disease were excluded. RESULTS: Of 608 these, 82 cases (13.5%) showed dyspoiesis in the BM precursors. There was no difference in age (p=0.16), gender (p=0.58) and spleen size (p=0.35) in cases with or without dyspoiesis. Majority of the cases had dyspoiesis in erythroid series (62, 75.6%) and megakaryocytes (15, 18.2%). Dyspoiesis was more prominent in alcoholics 44 cases (53.6%) and autoimmune diseases 13 cases (15.8%). Erythroid hyperplasia (47.7±14.4 vs 40±11.1; p<0.001) was more in cases with dyserythropoiesis, indicating ineffective erythropoiesis. Patients with dyspoiesis had lower haemoglobin (7.5±1.9 vs 9.3±2.2 g/dL, p<0.001). 54 (8.07%) had refractory anaemia with dyspoiesis present in 48 (88.8%) (p<0.01). Dyspoiesis was independently associated with refractory anaemia when adjusted for age, gender, aetiology and liver disease severity. CONCLUSIONS: BM dyspoiesis, especially dyserythropoiesis, is associated with severe refractory anaemia in patients with cirrhosis and requires new therapeutic approaches.

Prevention and Control of Anemia Amongst Children and Adolescents: Theory and Practice in India.

Anemia is a major public health problem in India with prevalence of more than 50% amongst children and adolescents. The decline in the burden of anemia has been insignificant over the past 5 decades. The present review assesses the National Guidelines for Prevention and Control of Anemia in India, the current status of the program implementation and possible reasons for the continued high prevalence of anemia in the country.