Weekly iron supplements given by teachers sustain the haemoglobin concentration of schoolchildren in the Philippines.

Objectives: To examine the effectiveness of weekly iron supplements given for 10 weeks by teachers to children in rural schools in the Philippines.

Methods: Forty-nine rural primary schools took part in the study and were randomly assigned to two groups: children in 25 schools received a weekly tablet providing 108 mg iron while children in 24 schools acted as controls. All children were dewormed before the start of the iron supplementation.