Staff Reporter:
Health and Family Welfare Minister Sardar Md. Sakhawat Husain yesterday inaugurating Vitamin A+ capsule feeding campaign said the quality of this year’s capsules is very good.
He said: “The high-quality Vitamin A+ capsules have been brought into the country through UNICEF after being tested at an international laboratory. The quality of our capsules is very good.”
The minister made the remarks while addressing the inaugural function of the Vitamin A+ capsule feed-ing campaign for children as the chief guest at the Shaheed Abu Sayeed Convention Hall of Bangladesh Medical University (BMU) in Dhaka.
He said: “We held a conference with UNICEF regarding the Vitamin A capsules. The high-quality vac-cine was procured only after testing at an international testing laboratory. Therefore, we are assured that the people of the country are being administered vaccines of the highest quality.”
Mentioning that the campaign has set a target to administer Vitamin A capsules to a total of 2.55 crore children aged between six and 59 months across the country, he said at present, the government has a stock of 2.60 crore red and blue Vitamin A capsules.
Speaking about the duration and implementation of the campaign, Sakhawat Husain said the programme is being conducted simultaneously across the country.
“Special measures have been taken to ensure that no child is left out. If any child misses the capsule on the first day, he or she will receive it on the second day, and the programme will continue in phases until the fourth day.”
He called upon parents to make the campaign a success to prevent childhood blindness and serious dis-eases such as measles.
Advising parents to feed colostrums to newborns immediately after birth, the minister said colostrum is the greatest natural source of Vitamin A for children. Therefore, the mass media must play an important role in raising public awareness on the issue, he noted.
He said infants should be fed only breast milk from birth until six months of age and thereafter, regular breastfeeding should continue alongside age-appropriate nutritious complementary foods.
Health Secretary Md. Quamruzzaman Chowdhury, Director General of the Directorate General of Health Services Professor Dr. Prabhat Chandra Biswas, Additional Director General Professor Dr. Zahid Rai-han, Professor Dr. Foara Tasnim and Director of the Institute of Public Health Nutrition Dr. Mohammad Yusuf Ali, among others, were present at the program.
