Justification of Universal Iron Supplementation for Infants 6-12 months in Regions with a High Prevalence of Thalassemia.

"Competing interests: The authors declare no conflict of Interest."

"The authors would like to express our gratitude to all infants and their parents/guardians for their participation, Miss Pornpen Gamnarai (Faculty of Medicine, Thammasat University) for her technical assistance, and Prof Somdet Srichairatanakool (Faculty of Medicine, Chiang Mai University) for his contribution on the analysis of iron-related parameters. The English language editing was done by Debra Kim Liwiski and Sam Ormond, international instructors, Clinical Research Center, Faculty of Medicine, Thammasat University. The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support provided by Thammasat University Research Fund under TU Research Scholar, contract no 2/67/2560. VV was supported by a Chalermprakiat Grant, Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand."