KATHMANDU, Oct. 7 (Xinhua) -- Millions of Nepali children are slated to
benefit from the National Vitamin A Program (NVAP), local newspaper The
Himalayan Times reported Sunday.
Under NVAP initiated by the Nepali Technical Assistance Group (NTAG),
vitamin A capsules will be distributed to 3.7 million kids and de-worming
medicine to 3.1 million children throughout Nepal on Nov. 2 and Nov. 3.
NTAG is a national non-governmental, non-profit service organization
established to provide technical assistance to health and nutrition
developmental work initiated in Nepal.
The vitamin A capsules will be provided to the children between the ages of
six-month to five years while the de-worming medicine will be provided to the
children from one to five-year-old.
Up to 50,000 trained female community health volunteers, together with
health workers, teachers, local NGO members, politicians and other community
leaders will distribute the capsules.
According to a data, the program has reached millions of children with its
biannual supplementation, covering about 90 percent of the target. As a result,
vitamin A deficiency among pre-school children is no longer a problem and deaths
of an estimated 12,000 kid are being averted each year.
The program aims at reducing child mortality and morbidity related to
vitamin A deficiency by providing supplements of vitamin A capsules to children;
treating xerophthalmia, severe malnutrition, prolonged diarrhoea and measles;
and encouraging dietary intake of vitamin A and breastfeeding.
Vitamin A deficiency has been affecting approximately 21 percent of the
pre-school-aged children in developing nations. In the 1990s, 2-8 percent of
pre-school-aged Nepali children experienced severe vitamin A deficiency or
xerophthalmia, associated with blindness and risk of child death.
The 1998 Nepal Micronutrient Status Survey showed significant reduction of night-blindness and Bitot's Spots in children who received capsules as compared with children who had not received vitamin A.
