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[av_heading heading=’Teen girls at risk of iron deficiency anemia’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”][/av_heading]
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ILOILO City – Teenage girls increase their requirement for iron by an estimated 70 percent because of their menstruation and as a consequence, anemia develops, according to the Department of Health (DOH) Region 6.
Anemia, in turn, adversely affects their school performance, said DOH-6’s Assistant Regional Director Ma. Paz Corrales.
These adolescent females, therefore, need supplementation for protein, iron and other micronutrients to support their growth and meet the body’s demand, she stressed.
DOH-6 and the Department of Education (DepEd) in Western Visayas recently launched its Weekly Iron and Folic Acid (WIFA) supplementation program at Iloilo National High School.
Atotal of 151,782 female students from Grade 7 to 10 and currently enrolled in all public schools in Western Visayas will benefit from the distribution of iron and folic acid supplements.
“It is our hope that such supplementation of iron and folic acidwill improve the girls’ school performance and even reduce absenteeism,” said Corrales.
Melgazar Barboza, regional nutritionist-dietitian of DepEd-6, said each female adolescent shall be administered one tablet of 60 mg elemental iron with 400 ug folic every Monday for a period of 24 weeks in a school year.
Folic acid or folate helps the body make healthy new cells, helps form red blood cells and helps produce DNA, the building block of the human body which carries genetic information, thus, it prevents certain neural tube defects, said Barboza.
Aside from Grades 7 to 10 female students enrolled in public schools in the region, adolescent females enrolled in DepEd’s Alternative Learning System will also benefit from the WIFA program.
Yesterday’s launching gathered around 70 Grade 7 female students of Iloilo National High School.
According to Grade 7 student Kaye Alia Jalandoni, she always lacked of energy and suffered dizziness. She thanked DOH and DepEd for the iron and folic supplements.
Grade 7 student Zyril Ann Macalalag, on the other hand, hoped that the supplements will help her have an active mind and a healthy and strong body. (PNA/PN)
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