Daijiworld Media Network – Udupi (NR/MB)

Udupi,  Jul 8: From the 3 and 4th week of July children in the age group of 1 to 5 years will be administered Vitamin A solution. This project is being undertaken on a massive scale by the Udupi district heath and family welfare department in joint collaboration with NGO’s.

From July 16 to 31 throughout Udupi district, all children below the age of five years will be administered 2 ml of Vitamin A  solution according to Dr M R Naik, the district health and family welfare officer and Dr Brijesh Raj Mehra of the Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement and H D Kote of Mysore.

For this purpose booths will be set-up by all primary health centres (PHCs) Anganwadis and sub-centres besides hospitals. According to Dr Mehra the child must be exactly between the ages of 15 months to five years, as the health department must have earlier given the first or the initial dose at the PHCs or hospitals.

This is the third occasion that the solution was being administered in Udupi, since its initial launch in July, 2006. The Family Planning Association and Kasturba Hospital, Manipal were also helping out, said the health and family welfare officer Naik.

The scale of this problem can be gauged by the fact that Udupi district has 61,273 children in the said age group and the organizers were doing their best to cover as many children as possible during this programme.Night-blindness, deteriorating eye-sight and eye diseases leading to total blindness are the major consequences of lack of Vitamin C in children. A solution to this problem can be found by intake of Mother’s milk, eating green leafy vegetables, fruits and eggs as these are rich in Vitamin A.

Dr Mehra further said that Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement, a voluntary organization had earlier joined hands with the government and taken up the project initially in four or five districts.