Folic Acid Oral: Dosing and Precautions
Folic acid guidance for folate-deficient megaloblastic anemia, with key exclusions for antifolate-related anemia.
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Source reviewed
source date listed on the source page
Guide category
Oral drugs
Safety boundary
Prescription medicine information for clinician-guided use.
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Therapeutic action
Antianaemia drug.
Indications
Treatment of folate-deficient megaloblastic anaemias due to severe malnutrition, repeated attacks of malaria, intestinal parasitosis, and related causes.
Forms and strengths
- 5 mg tablet.
Dose and duration
- Child under 1 year: 0.5 mg/kg once daily for 4 months.
- Child over 1 year and adult: 5 mg once daily for 4 months.
- In malabsorption states: 15 mg once daily.
Contra-indications, adverse effects, precautions
- Do not combine with sulfadiazine-pyrimethamine in toxoplasmosis or sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine in malaria because folic acid reduces treatment efficacy.
- Pregnancy: no contra-indication.
- Breast-feeding: no contra-indication.
- Folic acid must not be used for treatment of anaemia due to antifolates such as pyrimethamine, trimethoprim, or methotrexate. Use folinic acid.
Source
MSF Essential drugs practical guidelines (January 2026)
This page combines source-derived medicine reference sections with Kenza editorial context, while leaving out the Storage and Remarks sections from the source batch.
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