The National Vitamin A Plus Campaign will resume across Bangladesh on 28 June after a 14-month suspension caused by a shortage of capsules, with more than 2.35 crore children set to receive vitamin supplements.
The day-long campaign will run from 8am to 4pm and aims to prevent childhood blindness and malnutrition among children aged between six months and five years.
According to the Institute of Public Health and Nutrition (IPHN), a total of 23,514,972 children will be covered under the programme.
Of them, around 2,838,794 children aged between six and 11 months will receive blue-coloured Vitamin A capsules, while 20,576,178 children aged between 12 and 59 months will be given red-coloured capsules.
IPHN Director Mohammad Yunus Ali said preparations had been completed at 120,000 regular Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) centres across the country.
To reach children on the move, 500 mobile centres will be set up at bus terminals, railway stations, ferry ghats and other transit points.
A four-day child-to-child search programme will also be conducted after the campaign in 714 wards across 290 unions in 58 upazilas of 12 districts to identify and reach children in remote and hard-to-access areas.
Health and Family Welfare Minister Sardar Md Sakhawat Hossain will formally inaugurate the campaign at the Abu Sayeed Convention Centre in Shahbagh. State Minister for Health M A Muhit and the Prime Minister’s Health Affairs Adviser, S M Ziauddin Haider, are expected to attend the event.
At the local level, Members of Parliament will inaugurate the programme in their respective areas alongside local administrations. Civil surgeons and upazila health and family planning officers will oversee field-level implementation, while ministry officials will monitor the campaign centrally.
Bangladesh first launched the initiative in 1973 as the National Night Blindness Prevention Programme. It was integrated with National Immunisation Day in 1995 to expand coverage and was renamed the National Vitamin A Plus Campaign in 2003.
Since 2011, the programme has been implemented under the National Nutrition Services of the Directorate General of Health Services.
The health minister urged parents to bring children aged between six months and five years to designated centres during the campaign to ensure they receive the life-saving supplement.
