Vitamin-A campaign on Saturday targets 21 million children to prevent night blindness

The government will administer Vitamin-A capsules to children between six months and five years of age on Saturday in a major campaign to prevent night blindness and enhance immunity.

Senior Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 12 Nov 2015, 11:14 AM
Updated : 12 Nov 2015, 01:29 PM

Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Zahid Maleque at a press briefing on Thursday said President Md Abdul Hamid would inaugurate the campaign on Friday afternoon.

He said the government’s target was to feed capsules to at least 21 million children.

Messages relating to raising awareness about exclusive breastfeeding will also be disseminated in the course of the campaign at the 120,000 permanent and 20,000 mobile centres administered by the government.

The centres will remain open from 8am to 4pm. After the campaign, home-to-home checks will be carried out in six hard-to-reach districts to ensure full coverage of the programme.

It may be noted that the government conducts this campaign twice a year through placing great emphasis on it. The campaign has brought down the rate of night blindness to 0.04 percent now from the figure of 3.76 percent in 1982.

“This campaign has drastically reduced night blindness. We can cut down on 24 percent child deaths through a successful Vitamin-A campaign,” State Minister Maleque said.

Vitamin-A deficiency is a serious threat to both mothers and children.

The impact of the deficiency is not limited to blindness; it also increases the risk of infectious diseases due to impaired immunity.

The government has urged parents to feed Vitamin-A to their children only on doctors’ advice.

“It will be of no help if we feed this Vitamin to a child with diarrhoea or gastroenteritis,” Director General of Health Services Deen Mohammad Noorul Haque told the briefing.

“They cannot absorb it and that’s why we have instructed all to take doctors’ advice and feed the capsules to the children later,” he added.