Vitamin A Supplementation: Canada Offers 610 Million FCFA To Cameroon

As part of the National Polio Vaccination Days holding in the country from May 13-16, 2022, Vitamin A supplements will also be administered to babies aged 6-59 months. Also targeted are women who have just given birth. They need to take the supplement for 8 weeks to enrich their breast milk with Vitamin A.
Faithful to a tradition that began in 1998, the Canadian government through Global Affairs Canada this year is financing the acquisition of Vitamin A capsules and the cost of distributing and administering them in the country to the tune of 610 million FCFA. The disclosure was made at a press briefing in Yaounde on Wednesday, May 4, 2022 by Nankap Martin, nutritionist with the United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF Cameroon Country Office. 
Nankap described the Canadian government as “one of UNICEF Cameroon’s most faithful donors.” He said the supplementation drive was informed by the fact that over 35 per cent of children less than five years old in the country suffer from Vitamin A deficiency. 
According to the World Health Organisation, WHO, Vitamin A is administered to children 6-59 months old when deficiency becomes a public health problem. Vitamin A deficiency retards growth, causes night blindness and can even result in death. Vitamin A supplement therefore facilitates growth, reverses morbidity, prevents mortality and other infections.  
UNICEF and...