Blog - Ensuring children can continue to access life-saving vitamin A during the COVID-19 pandemic

Capsules of vitamin A provided worldwide

150M

Children given two doses of vitamin A each year

Countries use our vitamin A capsules

The need

Vitamin A deficiency puts children at greater risk of disease and early death and is the leading cause of preventable child blindness.

The prevalence of vitamin A deficiency (VAD) contributes to:

Increased morbidity and mortality due to a weakened immune system
Slowed growth and development
Visual system disorders, including, xerophthalmia, irreversible blindness and night blindness

Supplementing children between the ages of six months and five years with two doses of vitamin A per year reduces:

Morbidity and mortality in children affected by VAD:
- Mortality:
  - 12 to 24% reduction in overall risk of death
  - 12% reduction in death due to diarrhea
- Morbidities:
  - 15% reduced incidence of diarrhoea
  - 50% reduced incidence of measles

Video

10 billion reasons vitamin A should be called vitamin “Eh!”

Did you know that vitamin A saves lives? For more than 25 years, Nutrition International, based in Canada, has provided more than 10 billion capsules of vitamin A for children under five. This low-cost intervention prevents blindness, strengthens immune systems and has helped hundreds of millions of children around the world grow up stronger and healthier. That’s a lot of Canadian know-how, doing a lot of good ― and it’s time we recognized it.

How we help

We are world leaders in vitamin A supplementation.

We work with vitamin A capsule manufacturers around the world

In partnership with UNICEF, we work with vitamin A capsule manufacturers to ensure that the capsules produced can survive transport to hot climates, have a shelf life of three years, deliver a consistent dose of vitamin A to every child, and can be easily and safely administered by frontline health workers.

We support health systems to deliver vitamin A

Working closely with UNICEF and other partners, we support ministries of health to deliver vitamin A supplementation programs to preschool age children.

Global Alliance for Vitamin A

We share and promote research on vitamin A

We chair the Global Alliance for Vitamin A (GAVA), which is an informal alliance of partners whose mission is to accelerate progress toward improved child survival and reduce the consequences of vitamin A deficiency worldwide. GAVA provides a forum for achieving consensus on research, policy, and program evidence-based approaches to achieve optimal vitamin A intake among vulnerable populations.

Visit the GAVA website for resources and tools for vitamin A stakeholders

Our Global Projects

Discover our Vitamin A projects around the world

Browse our complete list of projects to learn about how we deliver high-impact, low-cost, evidence-based nutrition programs for those who need it most.

Browse more projects like these

Digitizing Pakistan’s oil fortification program

This project will institutionalize and sustain the improvement in quality and availability of adequately fortified oil with vitamins A and D in Pakistan.

Children receiving vitamin A supplements as part of Malezi Bora in Kenya.

Better Investment for Stunting Alleviation (BISA)

The Better Investment for Stunting Alleviation project supports the Government of Indonesia’s national strategy to reduce stunting by improving nutrition before pregnancy and in the first 1,000 days.

Optimizing India's social safety net programs

Nutrition International is helping state governments in India increase the availability of fortified foods in their social safety net programs (SSNPs), improving access to critical micronutrients.

Food Fortification Program (FFP) Pakistan

Implementing a large-scale food fortification program in Pakistan to fortify wheat flour and edible oil with micronutrients in collaboration with Mott MacDonald.

Vitamin A Supplementation

Since 1994, we've been leading the global effort to reduce the death of children under five by making sure that vitamin A supplements are delivered to developing countries around the world.