The National Vitamin A-plus campaign was conducted on Saturday (Mar 15) across the country with feeding over 2.26 crore children under five-year age to prevent childhood blindness and reduce child mortality. In BSMMU, its Vice-Chancellor (VC) Professor Dr Md Shahinul Alam inaugurated the Vitamin A Plus Campaign on the campus premises in Dhaka. As part of the national programme, BSMMU organises the Vitamin A Plus Campaign 2025 at its Outdoor Patient Department (OPD), said a press release.
Besides, the campaign was held in many districts including Rangamati, Khagrachhari, Sirajganj, Naogaon, Thakurgaon and Patuakhali.
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is determined to eliminate malnutrition and ensure good health of all children in the country, according to Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) sources.
To this end, about 2.26 crore children aged between six and 59 months were fed Vitamin 'A' capsules through 1,20,000 permanent EPI centers across the country.
All parents and guardians, who have children aged between six months and five years, were urged to take their children to the nearest EPI vaccination center, community clinic and other healthcare centers to feed Vitamin A capsules.
Due to the nationwide Vitamin A plus campaign, the rate of malnutrition in Bangladesh has decreased and child and maternal mortality has decreased significantly.
After the country's independence, the rate of night blindness among the children due to malnutrition was 4.10 percent. In 1974, the night blindness prevention programme was taken up and children started being fed vitamin 'A' capsules.
Later, as a result of continuing to feed 'A' vitamin, the number of children suffering from night blindness due to vitamin 'A' deficiency is almost non-existent.
Vitamin 'A' not only prevents blindness it also reduces the mortality rate of children under five years of age by about a quarter.
All of our children cannot properly consume breast milk or foods rich in vitamin A in the right amount. As a result, a large number of children under the age of five suffer from vitamin deficiency and are affected by various diseases due to its deficiency.
To meet this deficiency at low cost and in a short time, it is necessary to feed children vitamin 'A' capsules.
Already, by feeding vitamin A to 98 percent of children twice a year through the National Vitamin A Plus Campaign, the rate of blindness due to vitamin A deficiency has reduced to less than one percent and the child mortality rate has also decreased.
By taking vitamin A capsules twice a year, children can be largely freed from the curse of blindness and the risk of child death can also be reduced by increasing the child's immunity.
