[Assessment of mass-scale primary prevention of nervous system defects].

Nervous system defects are one of the main reasons of neonate mortality in Poland. In reply to that fact a special program for prophylaxis of nervous system defects was established in 1998. It includes three activity fields for women at reproductive age. These are following: propagation of nourishment rich in vitamin B and folic acid, recommendation for the day-to-day taking of 0.4 mg folic acid, improvement of the nutritive food value by adding such nutrients as folic acid. The aim of this article is to evaluate the efficiency of the prophylaxis of the nervous system defects.