UNICEF: Bangladesh to open vitamin A, de-worming campaign for children

Fri, May 9 05:55 PM

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) _ Bangladesh will stage a massive campaign Saturday to provide millions of children with vitamin A and de-worming tablets. UNICEF said Friday that tens of thousands of health workers and volunteers will fan out across the country and man 140,000 centers, including many makeshift ones.

They hope to provide vitamin A to about 19 million children ages 1 to 5, while 17 million kids 2 to 5 years old are targeted for de-worming tablets. Vitamin A deficiency increases the risk of child deaths from diseases such as measles and diarrhea, UNICEF said in a statement, adding that two doses of year of vitamin A could save thousands of lives.

Impoverished Bangladesh, with a population of 150 million, has a poor health management system, but the South Asian nation has staged massive vaccination programs against polio and other dangerous diseases in recent years. The campaign is a collaboration among the Bangladesh government, UNICEF, Canadian International Development Agency and the World Health Organization.

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