UNICEF to launch nationwide Vitamin A supplement campaign

The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo will on Saturday launch a campaign to provide supplemental Vitamin A to some 12 million children aged six to 59 months nationwide. The Vitamin A the children will receive during this campaign will supplement an earlier dose received in July 2002 during National Immunisation Days (NIDs). Vitamin A deficiency among children in the DRC has been found to be severe: a 1999 study financed by UNICEF revealed a deficiency rate of 61 percent among children aged six to 36 months. According to UNICEF, Vitamin A deficiency is a global problem, affecting more than 100 million children, and responsible for as many as one out of every four child deaths in areas where the problem exists. New scientific studies have shown that ensuring children have enough Vitamin A can increase their chances of survival by about 23 percent, as it is essential for the proper functioning of the immune system, thereby improving children's resistance to disease, and survival, growth and development. Further information on the Vitamin A Global Initiative