HAnaemia describes a situation in which there is a reduction of haemoglobin concentration in the

blood of pregnant women to a level below 11g/dl. Anaemia is one of the most common nutritional
deficiency diseases observed globally and affects more than a quarter of the world’s population
(WHO/CDC, 2008). Globally, anaemia affects 1.62 billion people (25%), among which 56 million are
pregnant women (Balarajan, 2011; WHO/CDC, 2008). It is estimated that 41.8% of pregnant women
worldwide are anaemic. At least half of this anaemia burden is assumed to be due to iron deficiency.
Iron deficiency anaemia (IDA) is the most common nutritional disorder in the world affecting 2 billion
people worldwide with pregnant women particularly at risk (WHO guideline, 2012). In developing
countries, the prevalence of anaemia during pregnancy is 60.0% and about 7.0% of the women are
severely anaemic (Agan et al., 2010). In Africa 57.1% of pregnant women are anaemic (de Benoist et
al., 2008). Sub-Saharan Africa is the most affected region, with prevalence of anaemia estimated to
be 17.2 million among pregnant women. This constitutes to approximately 30% of total global cases
(WHO, 2008).