Vitamin ‘A’ and de-worming tablets being administered to children under 5

Vitamin ‘A’ capsules and de-worming tablets are being administered to all children under five today and tomorrow under the National Vitamin 'A' Programme.

The programme aims to provide vitamin 'A' capsule to 3.7 million children between six months to five years throughout the nation.

Of the 3.7 million children, 2.9 million children between 1 to 5 years would be administered de-worming tablets, a press statement issued by Nepal Technical Assistance Group (NTAG) said.

About 48,000 women health volunteers would actively participate in the programme while different organisations are being mobilized to help during the programme.

The Vitamin 'A' programme has been conducted from the last 13 years to control child mortality, night blindness and other eye diseases that are caused from the lack of Vitamin A.

A de-worming tablet is fed along with a vitamin A capsule to make the Vitamin A capsule effective and to end diseases like anemia in children.

According to a recent survey, Vitamin 'A' programme has been saving more than 20,000 children per year from untimely death. nepalnews.com pb Oct 19 06