Dhaka: The National Vitamin A Plus Campaign will be conducted simultaneously across Bangladesh tomorrow, aiming to provide Vitamin A capsules to more than 2.4 crore children aged between 6 and 59 months.
The campaign will run from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm, with the government targeting 24,036,022 children nationwide. In addition, a four-day child-to-child search programme will be carried out in 714 wards under 290 unions across 58 upazilas in 12 remote districts to ensure no eligible child is left out.
Organised by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare with support from UNICEF Bangladesh, the campaign will administer two types of Vitamin A capsules based on children’s age. Infants aged 6 to 11 months will receive one blue capsule, while children aged 12 to 59 months will be given one red high-potency Vitamin A capsule.
The capsules will be distributed through around 120,000 permanent centres and 500 temporary centres set up at busy locations such as bus terminals and ferry ghats. Trained health workers and volunteers will oversee the nationwide programme.
State Minister for Health and Family Welfare Dr MA Muhit described the campaign as vital for improving children’s health, strengthening immunity and reducing deaths linked to malnutrition.
Health and Family Welfare Minister Sardar Md Sakhawat Husain will formally inaugurate the campaign at the Abu Sayeed Convention Centre in Shahbagh on Sunday morning. State Minister Dr MA Muhit and the Prime Minister’s Special Assistant on Health Affairs Dr SM Ziauddin Haider will also attend the event.
Across the country, local Members of Parliament, district and upazila administrations will inaugurate the campaign, while Civil Surgeons, Upazila Health and Family Planning Officers, field workers and volunteers will implement and monitor the programme.
Ahead of the campaign, Health Minister Sakhawat Husain urged parents to take all children aged 6 months to 5 years to their nearest campaign centre between 8:00 am and 4:00 pm to receive the life-saving Vitamin A capsule.
Health experts say Vitamin A plays a crucial role in preventing childhood blindness caused by vitamin deficiency, boosting immunity, reducing the severity of diarrhoeal diseases and lowering child mortality.
Bangladesh has been administering Vitamin A capsules to children since 1973 as part of its long-standing efforts to eliminate childhood blindness and combat malnutrition.
