KATHMANDU, APRIL 19
The government has launched a nationwide campaign to administer Vitamin A supplements and deworming medicine to children starting Sunday.
Under the National Vitamin A Programme, the Ministry of Health and Population is providing Vitamin A capsules and the deworming drug Albendazole over two days, according to the Department of Health Services.
Around 2.2 million children aged between six and 59 months are expected to receive Vitamin A, while nearly 2 million children aged one to five years will be given deworming tablets. Local levels have set up immunisation centres across the country for the campaign, mobilising about 52,000 female community health volunteers and 15,000 health workers.
Health experts say Vitamin A plays a vital role in improving eyesight, boosting immunity and supporting child growth, while deworming helps prevent malnutrition, anaemia and gastrointestinal infections.
The Vitamin A programme, which began in 1993 in eight districts, has been expanded nationwide since 2002. Similarly, the deworming campaign, introduced in 1999 in selected districts, has been implemented across the country since 2010.
The government conducts the free distribution of Vitamin A and deworming medicine twice a year, in Kartik and Baisakh.
Meanwhile, the ministry has also urged parents to ensure that children under five complete their routine immunisation, marking Baisakh as Immunisation Month and calling for no child to be left unvaccinated.