Over 2.4cr children to receive Vitamin A capsules on Sunday
Bangladesh will resume its nationwide Vitamin A Plus Campaign on Sunday after a 14-month hiatus, with more than 2.4 crore children expected to receive Vitamin A capsules as health authorities complete final preparations and distribute supplies to campaign centres across the country.
The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said the campaign will run from 8am to 4pm on 29 June, targeting children aged between six and 59 months to help prevent childhood blindness, improve nutrition and strengthen immunity.
Officials said Vitamin A capsules have already been delivered to almost all campaign centres nationwide, while the remaining few centres are expected to receive supplies on Saturday.
Health Assistant Siddhartha Kumar of Tarash Sadar Union in Sirajganj said his centre had received the required stock.
"We have received 1,156 red capsules and 115 blue capsules according to our requirements. Eligible children will be administered the capsules from 8am on Sunday," he told BSS.
According to the National Nutrition Services (NNS), the campaign aims to cover 2,40,36,022 children. Of them, 28,38,794 children aged between six and 11 months will receive blue Vitamin A capsules, while 2,11,97,228 children aged between 12 and 59 months will receive red capsules.
Follow-up drive to cover remote areas
The DGHS said child-to-child search activities would continue for four days after the campaign in remote areas, covering 714 wards under 290 unions in 58 upazilas across 12 districts, to ensure that no eligible child is left out.
Pabna Civil Surgeon Dr Abul Kalam Azad said all preparations in the district had been completed.
"Vitamin A capsules have already reached all campaign centres and we are fully prepared to implement the programme successfully," he said.
120,000 centres ready nationwide
Director General of the DGHS Professor Dr Pravath Chandra Biswas said all necessary measures had been taken to ensure the smooth implementation of the campaign.
"We have prepared 1,20,000 regular Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) centres across the country. Besides, 500 mobile centres have been set up at launch terminals, ferry ghats, railway stations, bus terminals and other public places," he said.
He added that the capsules had already reached campaign centres and urged parents and guardians to take children aged between six and 59 months to their nearest centres to receive the Vitamin A capsules.
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said Health and Family Welfare Minister Sardar Md Sakhawat Hossain would formally inaugurate the nationwide campaign at the Abu Sayeed Convention Centre in Shahbagh on Sunday morning.
State Minister for Health Dr MA Muhit and the Prime Minister's Adviser on Health, Dr SM Ziauddin Haider, are also expected to attend the inauguration ceremony.
Members of Parliament, along with local administration officials, will inaugurate the campaign at district and upazila levels, while field workers and volunteers will administer the capsules at the grassroots.
Civil surgeons and upazila health and family planning officers will monitor the programme locally, while central-level officials have also been instructed to supervise campaign activities across the country.
Campaign resumes after capsule shortage
Nutrition officials said the campaign is normally conducted twice a year but had remained suspended since March last year because of a shortage of Vitamin A capsules.
According to the National Nutrition Services, Vitamin A plays a vital role in preventing nutrition-related blindness, strengthening children's immune systems, reducing the severity of prolonged diarrhoea and lowering child mortality.
Bangladesh launched its Vitamin A supplementation programme in 1973 under the National Night Blindness Prevention Programme. The initiative was integrated with the National Immunisation Day in 1995, renamed the National Vitamin A Plus Campaign in 2003, and brought under the Directorate General of Health Services' National Nutrition Services in 2011.