Folic Acid
Folic acid helps prevent life-altering birth defects.
Ensuring that women and girls have access to folic acid through supplementation and fortification helps to protect them from anaemia and protects their babies from neural tube defects.
Maternal folate insufficiency in the first 28 days of pregnancy is a major cause of neural tube defects.
The most common forms of these defects include spina bifida and anencephaly, which result in elective pregnancy terminations, stillbirths, early neonatal deaths or long-term disabilities.
Improving maternal folate status through folic acid fortification and supplementation can dramatically reduce the number of affected births and significantly contribute to reducing neonatal and child mortality.