National vitamin A campaign to proceed despite recent protests

Around 3.3 million Nepalese children are due to receive vitamin A supplements this week in the latest phase of the successful campaign to protect children’s health. The vitamin A supplement is handed out every six months and has helped to reduce the under-five mortality rate by 30 percent, averting the death of 12,000 children every year in Nepal, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), which is helping the government to implement the campaign. In addition, it also helps to prevent child malnourishment, which affects nearly half of the country’s children. Along with UNICEF, the campaign is supported by the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID), the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Nepali Technical Assistance Group (NTAG). Despite the conflict situation in the Himalayan kingdom — where the Maoists have been waging an armed rebellion for the past 10 years — UNICEF is hoping that the campaign will not face any obstacles in reaching the most remote conflict-ridden villages. “Whatever the issues between adults, one thing that they have agreed on in the past is that the children of Nepal have the right to live and be protected from disease,” said UNICEF’s Nepal representative, Suomi Sakai, suggesting that both the Maoist rebels and security forces have supported the campaign. “The process of getting the vitamin A capsules to the districts, one of the largest health logistical exercises in the country, started months ago,” said Pragya Mathema, UNICEF’s project officer for nutrition. Supplies have already arrived from Canada with help from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), he explained. Large supplies have already reached the country’s most difficult mountain districts, where there are no navigable roads and infrastructure is particularly poor. According to the Ministry of Health and UNICEF, the campaign has proven a success thanks to the active participation of local communities and broadcast media, who publicise details of how to get the supplements. In rural areas, where there is no access to electricity or mass media, local youth clubs and mother’s groups to help spread the word and set up distribution points. The Female Health Care Volunteers (FCHVs), the frontline health workers in rural areas, help to distribute the capsules and also make home visits to ensure that no children are missed. Introduced in 1993, the campaign started with only eight districts. By 2002, it had expanded to all of the country’s 75 districts.