In Indonesia, four target groups were identified for interventions to
reduce iron deficiency: infants, schoolchildren, adolescents, and adul
t women (female employees, pregnant and lactating women). Adequate str
ategies require not only curative but also preventive actions, need to
reach all major risk groups in the society, need components to improv
e compliance, and be feasible in terms of costs and efforts. Preventiv
e measures should be given more priority so that curative actions can
be reduced. It cannot be expected that iron deficiency is alleviated w
ith only one measure. Therefore a set of actions need to be implemente
d which require not only the support of the government but all parts o
f the society. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Inc.