Bangladesh launches campaign to distribute vitamin A capsules to 22mn kids

Dhaka: Bangladesh has launched a nationwide campaign to distribute vitamin A capsules to around 22 million children between six months and five years of age.

A total of 40,000 health workers have been deployed to over 100,000 permanent and makeshift centres across the country to make the campaign a success, reports Xinhua news agency.

Parents were seen to take their kids to the centres in Dhaka and elsewhere in the country since Sunday morning to get the vitamin A capsules.

Health and Family Welfare Minister Zahid Maleque had earlier said the government's target is to distribute capsules to around 22 million children across the country.

He said such campaigns contributed immensely to the government's efforts in reducing night blindness and the risk of child deaths from diseases such as measles and diarrhoea.

Bangladesh conducts vitamin A-plus campaign twice a year and places great emphasis on it.