Food supplementation policy for pregnant women: analysis of coverage in Brazilian regions in the light of COVID-19

Abstract

Objective: in the context of Brazil, a peripheral country, pregnant women are a vulnerable class. Proper nutrition and fetal health depend directly on maternal nutrition, which is often precarious. Thus, the food supplement, which has already changed the health scenario of malnutrition in children, is big important in the best Prenatal Care. The objective is to analyze the quality and supply of food supplementation for pregnant women in Brazil, before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: analysis of public domain data, from pregnant women registered in the E-manager primary care system, between 2019 and 2021.

Results: the micronutrients offered in Brazil in the public policy of supplementation for pregnant women are iron and folic acid, since 2005 until the present date. Data analysis showed that the offer of those both in the pre-pandemic year and in the pandemic was inadequate, reaching less than 20% of pregnant women in the five regions of the country, with only one state in the northeast region, of the 27 national states, having an adequate supply to 100% of pregnant women.

Conclusion: supplementation rich in several micronutrients, used preventively during pregnancy, reduces maternal and fetal diseases. However, in Brazil, the supplementation policy during pregnancy is poor in quality, offering only folic acid and iron for years, as well as inadequate distribution of these. This fact proved to be unrelated to the health crisis of the pandemic, as it occurred since the pre-pandemic and worse in numbers before than during it. Therefore, a set of “poor quality and low supply” was identified in the supplementation of pregnant women in Brazil, which contributes to maintaining greater maternal-fetal and child morbidity and mortality.