Vitamin A plus campaign Saturday

Around 2.25 crore children, aged between six months and five years, will be fed Vitamin A plus capsules under a national campaign on August 5.

State Minister for Health and Family Welfare Zahid Maleque came up with the announcement while talking to reporters at the secretariat on Thursday morning.

Children, aged between six and 11 months, will be given the blue-coloured high-powered Vitamin A capsules, while children, aged between 12 to 59 months, will receive the red-coloured ones.

The state minister said children will be fed the vitamin A capsule at some 120,000 permanent health centres and 20,000 mobile centres across the country. 

The mobile centres will be set up at bus stands, railway stations, launch terminals, airports, ferry terminals, bridge toll centres and kheya ghats, and these will remain open from 8:00am to 4:00pm to make sure that all children are fed the capsules, he said.

“At least two well- trained volunteers will work at each centre to make the campaign a success,’’ he said adding that the rate of children’s night-blindness in the country has come down below one percent following the distribution of Vitamin A plus capsules regularly.

The junior minister said the children of remote and impassable areas will be given the capsules for additional four days from August 6-9 under special arrangements. 

Maleque said Vitamin A increases the immunity of children and reduce the complications of diarrhoea and measles.

Source: unb