Anaemia is the most prevalent nutrition problem affecting over 273 million children under 5 years of age. About half of the anaemic children are iron deficient. Prevalence of anaemia in Burundi was 61% in 2017; greater than WHO critical anaemia threshold of 40% for a public health problem (increasing from 45% in 2010). In 2009, anaemia was the leading cause of blood transfusion in hospitals with 80.41%. Burundi introduced the home fortification program using multiple micronutrient powders-MNP since the end of 2016 whose aim is to prevent iron deficiency and reduce the prevalence of anaemia in children 6 to 23 months aged.

Since the roll out of the program, no studies have been conducted to answer if multiple micronutrient powders supplementation is effective in high malaria transmission setting and there is a policy gap on child anaemia prevention/management. The purpose of our study is to assess effect of multiple micronutrient powders supplementation on anaemia and cognitive function in children aged 6-24 months in a malaria high-endemic setting in Burundi.