The National Vitamin A Plus Campaign will be launched on June 1 with the aim of providing Vitamin A Plus capsules to over 222 million children aged between 6 and 59 months to prevent childhood blindness and reduce child mortality in the country.
“Giving vitamin A capsules to children can prevent blindness, ensure normal growth, reduce all types of child mortality by 24 percent and significantly reduce mortality due to measles, diarrhea and pneumonia,” Director General of Health Services Professor Abul Bashar Mohammad Khurshid Alam told a press conference in Dhaka on Friday.
The Vitamin A Plus campaign will be carried out in the cyclone-hit coastal areas at a later date, he said.
As part of the campaign, 2.7 million children aged between six and 11 months will be given blue Vitamin A Plus capsules on that day, while 1.95 million children aged between 12 and 59 months will be given red capsules.
Khurshid appealed to the public to provide Vitamin A Plus capsules to their children so that no child would be left without it.
“The successful implementation of the campaign will help reduce the infant mortality rate in the country by 24 percent,” he added. The administration of Vitamin A Plus capsules has significantly reduced the problem of blindness in the country, he added.
After independence, over four percent of children were blind due to vitamin A deficiency, but now only 0.01 percent of children are blind, he added.
Khurshid said a total of 240,000 volunteers and 40,000 health workers would take part in the countrywide campaign and administer Vitamin A capsules at all health facilities and mobile health centres throughout the day.
Vitamin A deficiency is a serious threat to the health of mothers and children, health experts said, adding that the effects of vitamin A deficiency are not limited to blindness but also lead to a range of diseases and increased risk of death.
