Over 0.5m children to get vitamin A capsules in Dhaka

A total of 5,26,240 children in six upazilas of Dhaka district will be administered vitamin A plus capsules on Tuesday.

“Children aged 6-11 months will be fed blue colour capsules while children aged 12-59 months will be administered red colour capsules,” Dr Yasmin Nahar, deputy civil surgeon of Dhaka district, told at a press briefing at the Dhaka district civil service office.

She said, “78,082 children aged between six and 11 months will be fed blue colour capsule and 4,52,158 children aged 12-36 months will be administered red colour capsule.”

The health ministry sources said blindness problem has reduced significantly in the country due to feeding of vitamin A-plus capsules.

After independence of the country, over 4.0 per cent children suffered from blindness for vitamin A deficiency but now only 0.01 per cent children suffer from blindness problem, it added.

A total of 40,000 health workers have been attached at 0.112 million (1.12 lakh) centres to make the campaign a success.

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.