Vitamin A Deliveries Help Thousands of Children in Bangladesh and Afghanistan

As part of a global effort to reduce micronutrient deficiency and increase child survival rates, AmeriCares and Vitamin Angels are working to provide donated high-dose Vitamin A to health care organizations helping children in need.Little Alisinia’s health was in serious peril. The 21-month-old girl arrived at Afshar Hospital in Afghanistan, suffering from kidney failure and possible vision impairment.  Sadly, children in impoverished countries are especially vulnerable to health conditions like Alisinia’s, as a result of poor nutrition and deficiencies of vitamin A and other micronutrients.Fortunately, Alisinia’s story took a positive turn: Afshar Hospital provided her with quality medical care, including vitamins and nutritional supplementation made possible by a new partnership between AmeriCares and Vitamin Angels. As part of a global effort to reduce micronutrient deficiency and increase child survival rates, AmeriCares and Vitamin Angels are working to provide donated high-dose Vitamin A to health care organizations helping children in need.  In 2012 alone, 61,000 doses of Vitamin A were delivered to our health care partners in countries where child malnutrition persists at very high rates:

• In Afghanistan, our partner American Medical Overseas Relief (AMOR) is administering 20,000 doses of vitamin A to patients at Afshar Hospital and other health care clinics near Kabul. 
• In Bangladesh, where the World Health Organization estimates 28 percent of children under age five are vitamin A deficient, our partner, icddr,b (International Center for Diarrheal Disease Research) is administering 41,000 doses Vitamin A to pediatric patients.

Supplementation saves lives 

Through a partnership with Icddr,b, AmeriCares delivered vitamin A safely and effectively to reach patients in need in Bangladesh.  Photos courtesy of Icddr,bWorldwide, in countries where health care and nutritional resources are scarce, children suffer from “hidden hunger” – a lack of micronutrients that can lead to blindness, disease, and even death. Vitamin A deficiency affects an estimated one-third of children under age five around the world. Each year, the deficiency claims the lives of 670,000 these young children. Approximately 250,000 to 500,000 children living in developing countries become blind each year as a result of vitamin A deficiency, with the greatest prevalence in Southeast Asia and Africa.The World Health Organization estimates that, since 1998, vitamin A supplementation has helped 1.25 million people in 40 countries avert vitamin A deficiency-related death.  

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