Billions of people suffer from anemia, but there are cheap ways to reduce this

A 2006 study on supplying iron to children on Pemba Island was halted after it increased deaths and hospitalizations [1]. High iron levels appear to reduce resistance to malaria [2], so supplying iron tablets to infection-susceptible populations can lead to harm.

While the article makes a strong case for the importance of fighting anemia, these sorts of nuances can make the actual implementation difficult.

For more, I recommend listening to [3], which gave a fascinating link between anemia and the evolution of bacteria.

[1] https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6... [2] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10541535/ [3] https://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/iron-infection-and-anaemia-evoluti...