Reaching young Indonesian women through marriage registries: an innovative approach for anemia control

In an effort to build iron stores before pregnancy and reduce the high prevalence of anemia in Indonesia, the Ministry of Health/Indonesia and the MotherCare project implemented an anemia control program for newly wed women. As part of an existing program to counsel couples about marriage and require them to obtain tetanus toxoid immunization before obtaining a marriage certificate, women also were counseled to buy and take 30-60 iron-folate (IFA) tablets. Women (n = 344) were enrolled from one of three participating districts in South Kalimantan, Indonesia. At first monitoring, at least 30 d after baseline, 261 women were tested for hemoglobin and asked about their IFA tablet consumption and knowledge of information, education, and communications (IEC) materials promoted through the program. Results showed that there was a decrease in the prevalence of anemia from 23.8 to 14.0% over the course of the program, 98% of women had taken at least some IFA tablets and 56% had taken >30 tablets.