Bangladesh distributes Vitamin A capsules to children

Dhaka, Nov 15 : Bangladesh has distributed Vitamin A capsules to millions of children between six months and five years of age in an effort to prevent night blindness.

Health workers and volunteers on Saturday distributed Vitamin A at 120,000 permanent and 20,000 mobile sites across the country, Xinhua reported.

Bangladesh conducts Vitamin A campaign twice a year. Parents took their kids to the centres in Dhaka to feed them capsules.

Bangladeshi State Minister for Health and Family Welfare Zahid Maleque said the government's target is to feed capsules to at least 21 million children across the country.

Maleque said such Vitamin A campaigns contributed a lot to the government's efforts in reducing night blindness and the risk of child deaths from diseases such as measles and diarrhoea.

The campaigns have slashed the rate of night blindness to 0.04 percent now in the country from 3.76 percent in 1982.