INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
for four years, has reached two million children under the age of 5 so far.Vitamin A deficiency is the leading cause of preventable
childhood blindness and increases the risk of death from common childhood illnesses such as diarrhoea
Periodic, high-dose vitamin A supplementation is a proven, low-cost intervention and is an essential program in supporting efforts to reduce
Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 indicated a significant decrease in the intake of vitamin A in urban (31 percent) and rural (24 percent)
households.Data from the Food and Nutrition Surveillance in eight provinces of the country have also confirmed vitamin A deficiency in
children below 5 years of age.This health ministry is implementing the program in collaboration with 43 universities of medical sciences in
the country, and children who visited the centers received one soft gel capsule containing 200,000 IU every six months
This supplement is well absorbed in the body and stored in the liver to be used over time.A 2017 Cochrane systematic review of international
studies (including 47 studies from 17 countries) as well as meta-analyses conducted in 1992 and 2011 showed that mega-dose vitamin A
supplementation can reduce mortality from infectious diseases in children by 24 percent.According to food and nutrition surveillance system,
literacy about the importance of vitamin A consumption, and reducing the mortality rate among children due to preventable diseases.Four
years into the implementation of the program, the health ministry is evaluating the effectiveness of the program, and the results will be
published by the end of the current Iranian year, which started on March 20.MT/MG
This article first appeared/also appeared in Tehran Times
