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Micronutrients /

Vitamin A

Vitamin A helps boost immunity and protects children under five from preventable diseases and blindness.

Supplementing children under five with two doses of vitamin A per year reduces their chance of dying, reduces incidence of diarrhoea, and incrementally reduces the odds of child stunting.

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

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10B

Capsules of vitamin A provided worldwide

167M

Children under five received two doses of vitamin A in 2021

55

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

Institutionalizing mandatory oil and wheat flour fortification in Pakistan

With support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, we will help to take Pakistan's large-scale food fortification programs to the next level.

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

AMAN - Adopting a multisectoral approach for nutrition

Improving the health and wellbeing of people living in Cox’s Bazar by strengthening nutrition service delivery, social safety net programs, and multisectoral nutrition actions.

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

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.

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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.

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

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.

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

Related

Blog

Doubling Down: Why Vitamin A and Immunization are better together

One of the lesser known life-saving superheroes in public health is vitamin A. Let’s celebrate how vitamin A and immunization are working together to save lives and protect child health.

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Brief

Wheat flour fortification: Reducing vitamin and mineral deficiencies in our…

This information brief for wheat flour millers in Pakistan outlines the importance of fortification, the roles and responsibilities of millers in the process and how FFP is supporting the industry.

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Supplementation

Delivering the key micronutrients the body needs to survive and thrive.

We deliver the key micronutrients the body needs to survive and thrive through supplementation, a low-cost and simple solution that helps prevent the most common micronutrient deficiencies.

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