CCC to feed vitamin ‘A’ capsules to 5.5 lakh children

The Chittagong City Corporation has set a target of feeding vitamin ‘A’ capsules to 5 lakh 64 thousand children in the national vitamin ‘A’ plus campaign. Of these, 92 thousand children are aged 6-11 months and 4 lakh 72 thousand children are aged 12-59 months. Mayor Dr. Shahadat Hossain gave this information at a press conference at the CCC conference room today, Thursday (June 25).
Informing about extensive preparations to make the national vitamin ‘A’ plus campaign a success, the Mayor said that every child aged 11 months will be fed one blue vitamin ‘A’ capsule (1 lakh IU). Every child aged 12-59 months will be fed one red vitamin ‘A’ capsule (2 lakh IU).
This vitamin ‘A’ plus campaign will be conducted through about 1,321 temporary centers in 41 wards of the city under 7 EPI zones of the CHC area. Later, the parents will bring the dropped children to the EPI center and feed them Vitamin ‘A’ capsules.
Vitamin ‘A’ helps in normal growth, boosts immunity and reduces the risk of infant mortality. For the first 6 months after birth, babies should be fed exclusively breast milk, including colostrum within 1 hour of birth. When the baby is 6 months old, he should be fed a balanced amount of home-cooked food in addition to breast milk.
As of March 15, the target of the National Vitamin ‘A’ Plus Campaign for children aged 6-11 months in the Chittagong City Corporation area was 90,435, of which 89,189 were achieved, i.e. the achievement rate was 98.62 percent. The target for 12-59 months was 471,732, achieved 471,605, and the achievement rate was 99.97 percent.