Nationwide Vitamin A-plus campaign Saturday

The national Vitamin A Plus campaign will be conducted on June 1, across the country, aiming to administer vitamin A capsules to around 2.2 crore children aged between six and 59 months.

The National Nutrition Service (NNS) and the Institute of Public Health and Nutrition (IPHN) under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare will implement the day-long campaign, said the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

About 12.50 lakh children will be fed Vitamin A capsules at 1,905 centres of Dhaka North City Corporation (DSCC) and 1,827 centres of Dhaka South City Corporation (DNCC) on 1 June.

The day-long campaign will continue from 8am to 4pm across the country. 

Addressing a press conference at the health ministry on Thursday, Prof Dr ABM Khurshid Alam, director general of DGHS, said that a total of 2.20 crore children, including 27 lakh children aged 6 to 11 months and 1.95 crore children aged 12 to 59 months, will be given the Vitamin A Plus capsule during the campaign.

Children aged between six and 11 months will be given blue-coloured Vitamin A capsules. Children aged between 12 and 59 months will be given red-coloured capsules.

A total of 2.80 lakh volunteers will work to feed the vitamin A capsules in the country. Some 2.40 lakh volunteers and around 40,000 health workers will work for the Vitamin A Plus campaign.

The campaign will be conducted at around 1.20 lakh centres, including the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) centres and various health centres across the country. The campaign will also be run at community clinics and other government healthcare centres.

The campaign will also be conducted in EPI centres in municipal and city corporation areas. At the same time, a nutrition message will be given to the guardians of the children who come to the centres.

However, this time, the Vitamin A Plus campaign will run in the disaster-affected areas of the country for four days, as the local centres will conduct the campaign at their convenience to ensure that no child is left without receiving the capsule.

Vitamin A prevents blindness in children, increases immunity, and reduces complications and deaths from diarrhoea and measles. Vitamin A capsules are government-approved and meet quality standards, so they can be safely given to children.

Children should be brought to the centre on a full stomach to receive these vitamin A capsules. Furthermore, vitamin A capsules should not be given to children under the age of six months, children over the age of five, or sick children.

The Vitamin A Plus campaign is run in the country twice every year.

Separate preparatory meetings and press conferences were held by DNCC and DSCC to confirm the initiative. 

DNCC

DNCC's Chief Health Officer, Imrul Kayes Chowdhury, said that all children except for the sick and those who recently took the vitamin would be provided with capsules.

He urged parents to bring their children to DNCC centres and highlighted the extensive preparations made for the campaign, including training sessions for all involved personnel and the deployment of vigilance teams for monitoring.

The city corporation aims to reach 1,03,888 children aged 6 to 11 months and 4,75,370 children aged 12 to 59 months, with the support of 3,808 health workers and 208 supervisors.

DSCC

DSCC’s Acting Chief Health Officer, Dr Fazle Shamsul Kabir, said that the campaign will be conducted across 1,827 centres with the assistance of 3,654 volunteers and 150 supervisors.