Vitamin A

En français

HKI saves the sight and lives of thousands of people every year through vitamin A supplementation programs. Vitamin A deficiency, VAD, has been recognized as the leading cause of preventable pediatric blindness in developing countries. Over the last 25 years, combating VAD has emerged as one of the most cost-effective intervention for saving the sight and lives of children. Studies show that VAD, due either to a poor diet or infections that deplete the body's stores or reduce absorption of the vitamin, not only causes blindness, but also needlessly increases the risk of child and maternal morbidity and mortality.

Today, 127 million pre-school children and 7 million pregnant women are vitamin A deficient. 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. It is estimated that provision of adequate amounts of vitamin A reduces overall child mortality by 23 - 34%.

Vitamin A is needed to keep the outer surface of the eye moist and healthy, as well as for growth and development of a healthy immune system. VAD leads to decreased production of a photosensitive pigment in the rods of the eye, so the level of light needed for vision increases and night blindness results. Small, concentrated capsules of Vitamin A supplements combat both night blindness and xerophthalmia, where the membranes of the eye lose their mucous secreting cells and take on a rough appearance followed by damage to the cornea. Prompt doses of vitamin A can stop this deterioration although scarring may remain. Left untreated, the cornea can melt, leaving the patient irreversibly blind.

Blindness from vitamin A deficiency can also strike when infections reduce appetite, stores or the body's ability to absorb this vital micronutrient. Children who receive vitamin A supplements to protect their eyes are also less susceptible to diarrhea and measles, which often prove fatal in developing countries. Data shows that in settings where VAD is prevalent, improving the vitamin A status of children reduces their risk of mortality from measles by an average 50%, from diarrhea by an average 40%.

HKI has been combating vitamin A deficiency for decades by partnering with governments, international and non-governmental organizations in Africa and Asia. Together, we design, implement and monitor programs that deliver vitamin A to children and to mothers during the immediate postpartum period. Only two doses a year of high-potency vitamin A capsules to save a child's life and prevent blindness at pennies per dose.

All of HKI's Africa programs and five of seven Asian Pacific country offices support mass vitamin A supplementation, VAS, programs for children between the ages of six months and five years. The goal of our programs is to strengthen country-driven plans to achieve and sustain high VAS coverage of greater than 80 percent of targeted children. More than 33 million African children and 20 million Asian children have benefited from our programs, with most of these countries in Africa surpassing the 80% goal.

HKI also combats VAD by promoting the production and consumption of vitamin A-rich foods through homestead food production, orange-fleshed sweet potatoes, community and school gardens, and by working with the private sector to fortify commercially-produced foods such as cooking oils with Vitamin A.

Read more about these additional approaches to combat VAD by clicking on homestead food production, orange-fleshed sweet potato, school health, or food fortification links on the left-hand side of this page.