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Child Survival
ABOUT VITAMIN A DEFICIENCY
Worldwide, more than 100 million young children are vitamin A deficient. Vitamin A is essential for the effective functioning of the immune system. Without it, children are at greater risk of dying from common childhood diseases like measles and are susceptible to serious clinical eye problems. Over 350,000 children will go blind this year (one every 90 seconds) and over 3 million children will die from diseases that could be easily prevented -- with one capsule of vitamin A, twice a year.
The Dangers of Vitamin A Deficiency for Children Over 100 million pre-school age children suffer from vitamin A deficiency.
3 million children die annually as a result of vitamin A deficiency. It is responsible for as many as one out of every four child deaths in regions, countries and communities where the problem exists. Vitamin A deficiency makes children especially vulnerable to infection and worsens the course of many infections. Vitamin A deficiency increases the severity, complications and risk of death from measles. Improving vitamin A status before the onset of measles or after measles occurs markedly reduces the severity of complications and associated mortality. 14 million pre-school children suffer from some eye damage.
Depending on the degree of the deficiency, a range of abnormalities appears in the eyes of vitamin A deficient children. In the mildest form, night blindness occurs because the rods in the eye no longer produce rhodopsin, a pigment essential for seeing in the dark. In more severe forms, lesions occur on the conjunctiva and the cornea. If left untreated, these lesions can cause irreversible damage, including partial or total blindness. Benefits of Vitamin A Supplementation for Children Vitamin A supplementation is a powerful child survival tool; vitamin A supplements improve a child's resistance to disease and is key to improving their survival, growth and development.
Ensuring children have enough vitamin A can increase their survival by about 25%. Ensuring vitamin A intake for children increases their chances of survival by mitigating the effects of common diseases and illnesses, including: death from measles can be reduced by 50% death from diarrhea can be reduced by 40% child mortality in at-risk populations can be reduced by 23 - 34%, averting up to 1 million deaths per year childhood blindness can be prevented by as many as 400,000 cases each year birth defects may be reduced epithelial and perhaps other types of cancer may be prevented resistance to infection improves anemia is reduced Increasing vitamin A intake is now recognized as one of the most cost-effective interventions for child survival. Administering vitamin A: costs 2 cents per capsule, two times per year reduces health costs by lessening hospital and clinic visits is easily integrated into existing public health/immunization programs A World Bank study estimated that for every dollar invested in supplementation, more than $100 would be returned in increased productivity associated with reduced childhood mortality, lower health care costs and improved worker performance.
More about Vitamin A Vitamin A, stored normally in the liver, is crucial for effective immune-system functioning, protecting the integrity of epithelial cells lining the skin, the surface of the eyes, the inside of the mouth and the alimentary and respiratory tracts. When this defense breaks down in a vitamin A-deficient child, the child is more likely to develop infections, and the severity of an infection is likely to be greater. Vitamin A is found as retinol in breastmilk, liver, eggs, butter and whole cow's milk. Carotene, a precursor of vitamin A that is converted to retinol in the abdominal walls, is found in green leafy vegetables, orange and yellow fruits and red palm oil. Concerns have been expressed in many countries about the dangers of toxicity of high-dose vitamin A supplementation. But the benefits of vitamin A supplementation far outweigh any side effects, which are transient and very rare. Most vitamin A supplementation programs use high dose capsules. These doses are completely safe for children when given at least a month apart. Safe lower doses have been established for pregnant women.