KHUAJND, June 25, Asia-Plus — The first ten-day stage of a vitamin A capsule distribution campaign in the northern Sughd province has successfully covered nearly 99 percent of the targeted group, Mumin Bobojonov, the director of the Sughd branch of the Republican Immunoprophylactic Center, told Asia-Plus today. Launched on June 1, the operation ended on June 10.
In the northern Sughd province, capsules have been distributed to all medical facilities across the province to provide vitamin A to 29,085 children between six months and one year old and 181,230 children between one and five years old.
According to Bobojonov, the campaign has covered 98.7 percent children between six months and one year old and 98.7 percent of children between one and five years old. “Probably, some parents have not been aware of the campaign, though we have distributed 1,800 booklets in Tajik, Russian and Uzbek languages,” said Bobojonov. “The capsules will be kept in the district medical facilities, and those who have not yet received the capsules may do it, because the capsules have long storage life.”
He noted that bulks of vitamin A capsules have been provided to Tajikistan by UNICEF CO Tajikistan since 2004. The second stage of the vitamin A capsule distribution campaign will be held in the country from December 1-10.
In all, the campaign targeted more than 758,000 children under the age of 5 throughout the country thereby preventing blindness and saving lives as their immune systems are strengthened to fight common childhood killers, including diarrhea and measles.
Vitamin A deficiency is estimated to affect millions of children around the world. Approximately 250,000-500,000 children in developing countries become blind each year owing to vitamin A deficiency, with the highest prevalence in Southeast Asia and Africa. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), vitamin A deficiency is under control in the United States, but in developing countries vitamin A deficiency is a significant concern. With the high prevalence of vitamin A deficiency, the WHO has implemented several initiatives for supplementation of vitamin A in developing countries. Some of these strategies include intake of vitamin A through a combination of breast feeding, dietary intake, food fortification, and supplementation. Through the efforts of WHO and its partners, an estimated 1.25 million deaths since 1998 in 40 countries due to vitamin A deficiency have been averted.
