Folic Acid Supplementation in Gambian Primigravidae

Summary

Supplementation with folic acid and iron is recommended for pregnant women in order to prevent them from developing anemia. In malaria endemic areas of Africa, the World Health Organization (WHO) now recommends that pregnant women should also be given sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) once a month after quickening to protect them against malaria which is especially harmful during pregnancy. However, folic acid is an antagonist of SP so there is a possibility that giving folic acid with SP could interfere with the ability of the latter to provide protection against malaria. To investigate this possibility Gambian primigravidae with malaria parasitemia have been given SP and folic acid at the same time or on separate occasions two weeks apart and the ability of SP to cure the malaria infection investigated.

Timeline

Start

2002-07

Primary completion

—

Completion

2004-01

Publications

• Qi YP, Crider KS, Gutman J, Centeno-Tablante E, Fothergill A, Daniels K, Yeung LF, Mai CT, Mehta S, Williams JL, Finkelstein JL. Folic acid supplementation and malaria susceptibility and severity among people taking antifolate antimalarial drugs in endemic areas. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2026 Feb 18;2(2):CD014217. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD014217.pub2.

Drugs

Indications