Month-long drive to give 2.6cr UP kids vitamin A supplement kicks off
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The campaign, which will run until August 9, will cover over 2.6 crore children aged nine months to five years.
"The primary goal of the campaign is to reduce illnesses caused by Vitamin A deficiency, such as night blindness, weakened immunity, and malnutrition. Improving child health and reducing child mortality remain key govt priorities," said Dr Ajay Gupta, state immunization officer.
Adding that the campaign is conducted twice a year, and the current round marks the first phase for the financial year 2025–26, general manager, routine immunisation, national health mission, Dr Manoj Kumar Shukla, said, "Sustained efforts over the past few years on the count have led to a drastic improvement in vitamin A coverage.
Compared to 44% of children who received vitamin A during NFHS-4, over 74% of children in the same age bracket took Vitamin A when it was measured at the time of NFHS-5, which was also better than the national average of 71.2%.
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He also said that in the last phase of this campaign, 93.54% of the targeted children received the vitamin A dose. The improvement may also be linked to special training provided to Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) and Anganwadi workers to ensure smooth and effective implementation.
An additional round of measles and rubella vaccine would also commence along with this round, said Dr Gupta, while appealing to parents of children who could have missed their vaccine to get the MR 1 or MR 2 shots.
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