Barisal Correspondent :The ‘Vitamin-A’ campaign by feeding a capsule held on Saturday across Barisal city and district with children between six months to five years.Liquid vitamin A is squeezed into child’s mouth by cutting off the tip of the capsule in the campaign.Dr. A F M Safiuddin, District Vivil Surgeon Barisal at Lakutia Mukundapatty School of Babuganj Upazila and Dr. Matiur Rahman, Barisal City Corporation health officer at Jamir Uddin primary school center of the city inaugurated the program on Saturday morning. They said 2, 90,798 children in 225 wards under 85 unions of ten upazilas through 2,155 centers and 47,290 in 30 wards of Barisal City Corporation through 220 centers were the target to administrate the vitamin-‘A’ capsule dose from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM Saturday. They hoped that they must achieve 98 percent success in covering the campaign in the city and district to make the programmes a total success to prevent malnutrition and child-blindness with the helps from the volunteers of Bangladesh Girl Guides and Boy Scouts Associations and health staffs and officials.Awareness messages on breastfeeding for the children in their first six months of life will also be distributed during the campaign.Supplementary nutrition in the form of a vitamin A capsule is vital for good infant and child health, growth, and development, said the health officials.This is also accepted as an essential part of child survival programs as one capsule of vitamin A given at least twice a year to children 6 to 59 months of age can reduce under-5 child mortality by 24 percent, they added.Vitamin A helps in strengthening of the immune system, reducing severity of diseases such as diarrhea and measles, preventing deaths from diarrhea and measles, treats malnutrition and also prevents blindness, health officials told. BSS from Gaibandha adds: A campaign for Vitamin A Plus has begun in the district as elsewhere in the country at around 8 am yesterday amid much enthusiasm to all guardians, health workers and the volunteers.Mayor of Gaibandha Municipality M Shamsul Alam inaugurated the campaign as the chief guest on Puratan Hospital premises at Masterpara of the town.Sadar upazila health and family planning officer Dr Ayub Ali, poura councilor, health staff and local elite including the journalists of print and electronic media were also present on the occasion.Shamsul Alam said children are future of the nation and the government is relentlessly working to build a beautiful Bangladesh for the next generation.Office sources said a total of 3,48,894 children would be fed blue and red color vitamin A capsule yesterday in all the seven upazilas of the district to reduce the risk of child mortality.Of them, some 36,093 babies aged 6-11 months will be fed blue color vitamin A capsule while 3,12,801 babies aged 12-59 months will be administered red color vitamin a capsule on the day, the sources added.Talking to BSS, civil surgeon Dr. Nirmalendu Chowdhury said as many as 6,327 health and family planning personnel including 5,537 volunteers and 246 supervisors were engaged in 2,109 centers throughout the district to make the campaign successful.Besides, mobile centres has also been set up at bus stands, railway stations, kheyaghats and bridge tolls which will remain open from 8 am to 4 pm to feed the children Vitamin A Plus capsules, he added.BSS from Rajshahi adds: Like other parts of the country, Rajshahi City Corporation (RCC) has started its National vitamin ‘A’ plus campaign-2015 here yesterday morning vowing to make it a total success to prevent all the vitamin A deficiency related disorders among babies.Nizam-ul Azim, Mayor-in-Charge of RCC, opened the event through administering a capsule to a baby in the city bhaban premises.”We have clinched the first position in EPI campaign in six consecutive times nationally. Similarly, we are committed to make this campaign a total success,” Azim asserted while addressing a brief opening discussion.
