A Swiss pharmaceutical company recently launched a campaign aimed at what it calls a largely overlooked but potentially serious condition: iron deficiency.
Zurich-based Vifor Pharma develops and markets products specifically to treat iron deficiency. It kicked off its campaign in November with a "Global Iron Deficiency Day," but the date served only as a springboard for a continuing effort to raise awareness of the condition’s risks and ramifications.
“Iron deficiency is very common but often overlooked, especially in people with chronic conditions," Prof. Maria Cappellini of the University of Milan said. “Iron deficiency is a health-related condition in which iron availability is insufficient to meet body needs and therefore its timely detection and treatment is important, because iron is essential to the functioning of multiple organs.”
The World Health Organization says approximately a third of the world suffers from iron deficiency, and those most likely to be affected by it are the elderly and people with some chronic ailments, including congestive heart failure, kidney disease and inflammatory bowel syndrome.
