Over 20 million children to be given vitamin-A plus capsules on Saturday

The National Vitamin-A Plus campaign is to be held across Bangladesh on Saturday, providing vitamin-A Plus capsules to over 22 million children aged from six months to 59 months of age. Vitamin-A is crucial to preventing childhood blindness and reducing child mortality. Children aged from six to 11 months will be given a blue capsule while children from 12 to 59 months will be given a red capsule, sources from the Health and Family Welfare Ministry said. While inaugurating the National Vitamin-A Plus campaign at Dhaka Shishu Hospital on December 21, Health and Family Welfare Minister Mohammad Nasim said health workers and volunteers will feed the vitamin-A Plus capsules to the children from 120,000 permanent and 20,000 mobile centres across the country, which will remain open from 8 am to 4 pm. The mobile centres will be set up at bus stops, airports and launch terminals and other transport points, he added. According to health experts, less than 1% of children suffer from childhood blindness due to vitamin-A deficiency in the present day, as compared to 3.74% in 1974. In addition to childhood blindness, vitamin-A deficiency also increases child mortality by causing a variety of diseases. "We are providing vitamin-A plus capsules two times a year as it remains in children's bodies for up to six months. Alongside vitamin A plus capsules, guardians should feed their children natural foods such as vegetables and fish to avoid vitamin A deficiency," the health experts added. Infants should be given breast milk within one hour of their births, as it contains a large percentage of proteins, minerals and vitamins, which greatly will help improve their immune system, they further said.