Empowering a tea-plantation community to improve its micronutrient health

Abstract

This project was designed to convince and empower management and plantation workers to improve their own nutritional health status and productivity. Plantations are generally bypassed by the government's primary health-care system. A nine-month intervention with iron (60 mg of elemental iron) and vitamin A supplementation and iodized salt was performed on the Balanoor Plantations in India. Of the women tea pickers, 99% (n = 334) received the supplements and bought the iodized salt from the plantation ration shop. Their mean hemoglobin level rose significantly from 11.0 to 11.9 g/dl. The women pickers gave the supplements to their families as well as themselves. The results were the same whether iron was given once or twice a week. The mean hemoglobin level of the women pickers rose significantly from 11.1 to 12.0 g/dl with the twice-weekly dose and from 10.9 to 11.8 g/dl with the weekly dose. The prevalence of clinical signs of vitamin A deficiency in the entire plantation population (about 2,500) was reduced significantly (from 19% to 4%), as was iodine deficiency (from 17% to 7%). Common health problems decreased from 88% to 54%. The number of patients referred to larger hospitals decreased significantly from 116 to 86. Absenteeism was not affected.