The National Vitamin A-plus campaign was conducted on Monday with a target to feed over 2.20 crore children aged six months to 59 months vitamin A-plus capsules to prevent childhood blindness and reduce child mortality in the country.
"Feeding Vitamin A capsules prevent blindness in children, ensures normal growth, reduces all types of child mortality by 24 per cent and significantly reduces mortality from measles, diarrhoea and pneumonia," Health and Family Welfare Minister Zahid Maleque told at the inaugural function of the countrywide campaign, an official release said.
Under the campaign, children aged between six months and 11 months were given vitamin A-plus capsules with blue colour while children aged between 12 and 59 months were administered vitamin A-plus with red colour on the day, according to the official release.
Maleque urged the people to feed their children vitamin A-plus capsules for ensuring that not a single child is left out of getting the vitamin capsules.
"We can cut 24 per cent child mortality from the country through successful implementation of the programme," the minister said.
Blindness problem has reduced significantly in the country due to feeding of vitamin A-plus capsules, he added.
After the independence of the country, over 4 per cent of children suffered from blindness for vitamin A deficiency but now only 0.01 per cent of children suffer from blindness problems, Maleque said.
A total of 240,000 volunteers and 40,000 health workers worked in the countrywide campaign to administer Vitamin A capsules at all health complexes and mobile health centres throughout the day, the health ministry sources said.
Vitamin A deficiency is a serious threat to both mother and child health, they said, adding that the impact of vitamin A deficiency is not only limited to blindness but also increases death risk by causing various diseases.
