A two-day nationwide vitamin and deworming campaign has started on Thursday. Around 2.2 million children between six to 59 months will be given vitamin A. Of them around 1.9 million children between one to five years will also receive deworming tablets during the campaign.

Around 54,000 female community health volunteers have been deployed nationwide for the purpose. The health ministry has been conducting the campaign twice a year—in April and in November—since 2003.

“We have already supplied vitamin A and deworming tablets to all local units throughout the country,” said Lila Bikram Thapa, chief of Nutrition Section at the Family Welfare Division under the Department of Health Services. “Female community health volunteers have been mobilised to give the supplement and deworming tablets to the children.”

Officials say that vitamin A supplementation and a deworming tablet administration campaigns are crucial in preventing many childhood diseases and reducing mortality among children under five.

It is because of supplementation campaigns like these that night blindness among children, which used to be very high until two decades ago, has been almost eliminated, according to Thapa.

Vitamin A deficiency is estimated to contribute to nearly one-fourth of global child mortality from measles, diarrhoea and malaria.

The campaign is regarded as a public health success story in Nepal, as it has helped address vitamin A deficiency among children, which used to be a major concern in the country. Regular supplementation campaigns are estimated to have reduced deaths among children under five by 23 percent.

Deworming tablets are crucial in preventing many childhood diseases and in reducing child mortality, according to child health experts.

The vitamin A supplementations and the deworming campaign had coverage rates of over 94 percent, the highest among all health campaigns run in the country in the past.

Child health experts say that vitamin A supplementation campaigns are important for children's overall growth and for protecting them from various infectious diseases.

According to the World Health Organisation, vitamin A deficiency causes visual impairment (night blindness) and vulnerability to illnesses like measles and diarrhoea among children. The supplement boosts immunity and ensures children’s natural growth.