Vitamin A plus campaign on March 15 in country

The national Vitamin A plus campaign will be held on March 15 across the country to ensure good health of all the children, said a Health Ministry press release.

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is determined to eliminate malnutrition and ensure good health of all children in the country.

To this end, about 2.26 crore children aged between 6 and 59 months will be fed Vitamin ‘A’ capsules through 1,20,000 permanent EPI centers across the country on March 15.

The ministry has urged all parents and guardians who have children aged between 6 months and 5 years to take their children to the nearest EPI vaccination center, community clinic and other healthcare centers to feed Vitamin A capsules.

The message said that the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is working tirelessly to bring healthcare to the doorsteps of the people.

As a result, the rate of malnutrition in Bangladesh has decreased and child and maternal mortality has decreased significantly. Bangladesh has been participating as an important member of the world leadership nutrition forum Scaling Up Nutrition.

The notification said that after the country’s independence, the rate of night blindness among children due to malnutrition was 4.10 percent. In 1974, the night blindness prevention program 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.

The message from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare also said that vitamin ‘A’ not only prevents blindness it also reduces the mortality rate of children under 5 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 5 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 1 percent and the child mortality rate has also decreased.

To maintain this success, the National Vitamin A Plus Campaign should continue to feed vitamin A capsules to children aged between 6 and 59 months.

The Ministry of Health also said that children are our future. But a part of them are suffering from malnutrition. Blindness is a curse for a family.

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. (BSS)