22 million children to get Vitamin A

At least 22 million children, aged between six months and five years, will be fed life saving vitamin-A capsule on Saturday in a countrywide 8am to 4pm campaign.

Officials say benefits of breastfeeding will also be campaigned during the vitamin feeding at 120,000 permanent outreaches and 20,000 mobile centres.

Vitamin-A prevents night blindness and boosts immune system of a child to fight off infections, a major killer.

The campaign that the Institute of Public Health and Nutrition conducts six months apart has reduced night blindness to 0.04 percent now from 3.76 percent in 1982.

British medical journal The Lancet said such campaign if held regularly can help reduce child deaths by 24 percent.

Usually an additional de-worming tablet was being fed to children between two and five years during the campaign.

Last year the government decided not to feed the Vitamin-A tablets as rumours of children falling ill maligned the March campaign.

Feeding de-worming pills in empty stomach can sometimes cause slight discomfort and officials found parents rushed to the hospital in panic.

It eventually affected crucial vitamin-A campaign, investigations found.

Health minister Mohammed Nasim, however, at a press briefing on Wednesday, has urged all to be careful so that nothing untoward happens.

He suggested field workers not to pressurise or feed a crying child and urged media to remain alert so that none can launch any propaganda of children falling ill after vitamin feeding.

Children between six months and 11 months will get a blue coloured capsule while others will get a high-powered red colour capsule.

Four-day home to home search will follow after Saturday to reach out to the children who missed the campaign, the minister said.