Approaches to Vitamin A supplementation in Eastern and Southern Africa
Learning report
Highlights
Only 24 per cent of children aged 6-23 months in Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA) receive a diet with minimum dietary diversity (MDD) and only 14 per cent receive a minimum acceptable diet. Poor diets lead to micronutrient deficiencies including Vitamin A deficiency which is a major contributor to deaths from diarrhoea and measles and a major cause of preventable childhood blindness. Latest estimates from 2013 show that vitamin A deficiency levels remain high in Sub-Saharan Africa at 48 per cent, despite major declines in much of the rest of the world.
Until poor diets are addressed, vitamin A supplementation remains a necessary, life-saving intervention that reduces child morbidity and mortality. However, less than two thirds of children aged 6-59 months in the region currently receive adequate vitamin A supplementation. Governments across the region are using different approaches to address this situation. Some deliver vitamin A supplementation alongside child health services at fixed health facilities, others through community health outreach or through bi-annual child health campaigns, and some a combination.
This report summarizes the different approaches currently being used across the 21 countries in the region, the strengths and weaknesses of each, and provides considerations for how governments, partners and donors can move forward to reach more children with this critical intervention.
