Helen Keller International
Launches Vitamin A Distribution
in Cambodia
Cambodian Governor
Administers First Dose to
Child
Blindness could be prevented for $1 per person
Kompong Cham, Cambodia, March 1, 2006 – Helen
Keller International (HKI) launched
a month-long Vitamin A distribution
program in Cambodia with an event
attended by over 600 participants.
The program is implemented throughout
the country with a goal to achieve
national coverage, and is supported
through funding from the United
States Agency for Interntational
Development (USAID). His Excellency
Governor Hun Neng inaugurated the
event by giving the first vitamin
A supplement to a local child.
Other participants included the
Director of the National Maternal
and Child Health Center for the
Ministry of Health (MOH), Professor
Koum Kanan; Mr. Jonathan Ross and
Dr. Hen Sokun Charya of USAID;
staff from the Provincal Health
Department (PHD); Provincial and
District Governors; Commune Leaders;
and other NGOs in addition to HKI.
HKI is a leader in the distribution
of vitamin A capsules to mothers
and children across the globe,
and supports the organization’s
mission to combat the causes and
consequences of blindness and malnutrition.
Studies have shown that vitamin
A deficiency – lack of vitamin
A from either a poor diet or from
infections that reduce the body’s
ability to absorb the vitamin – not
only causes blindness but also
increases child mortality. Every
year, between 250,000 and 500,000
children around the world go blind
from a lack of vitamin A in their
diet. Seventy percent of these
children die within one year of
becoming blind. Pregnant women
are also at great risk of vitamin
A deficiency.
Yet, vitamin A deficiency can
easily be prevented by taking two
vitamin A capsules every year.
Giving supplements to those who
lack vitamin A increases their
resistance to disease, helps combat
blindness, and dramatically improves
their chances for survival. Research
conducted in the 1980s with HKI,
the Government of Indonesia and
Johns Hopkins University showed
that vitamin A supplementation
reduces a child's chance of dying
before the age of 5 by as much
as 30%. These results have been
confirmed by numerous other studies
and now twice-yearly vitamin A
supplementation has become a cornerstone
of child survival programs – all
at a cost of approximately $1 per
year per child.
In his speech at the event, Jonathan
Ross, USAID’s Director of
the Office of Public Health, praised
the collaboration between HKI and
MOH, and expressed USAID’s
continued support for the project
until national coverage is achieved.
He and Dr. Chrarya also administered
vitamin A to local children.
The event was covered by all the
national Cambodian television,
local press, Voice of America,
and Free Asia radio.
Jonathan Ross of
USAID administers a dose of Vitamin
A
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