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Published : 25 Jun 2026, 02:52 PM
The government has finalised arrangements to feed Vitamin A plus capsules to 24 million children across Bangladesh in a single day.
State Minister for Health MA Muhit announced the plan on Thursday at a Secretariat media briefing detailing the national campaign scheduled for Jun 28.
According to him, health workers will administer the capsules from 8am to 4pm to all children aged between six and 59 months.
Infants aged six to 11 months will receive blue capsules, while children aged 12 to 59 months will be given the red variants.
Any child missed during the single-day drive can get the capsule at their nearest Upazila health complex the following day.
The government provides these doses twice a year, meaning a second round will follow this initial phase in December, Muhit said.
For families living in hard-to-reach remote terrain, the immunisation drive will continue for an additional four days after Jun 28.
The ministry is also setting up 500 mobile camps at launch terminals, bus stations, and other transit points to ensure maximum coverage.
Bangladesh has been giving Vitamin A capsules to children since 1973 to combat blindness and malnutrition, initially under a programme called the National Night Blindness Prevention Programme.
In 1995, the drive was folded into the national immunisation programme before being spun off as a standalone campaign in 2003 under the National Vitamin A Plus Campaign, run by the Institute of Public Health Nutrition (IPHN).
It was subsequently brought under the Directorate General of Health Services’ (DGHS) National Nutrition Services (NNS) operation plan from 2011 until March 2025.
Following the recent expiration and abolition of the NNS operation plan, the campaign has returned to IPHN management from 2026.
The campaign is supported by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the DGHS and development partners.
