About 250 million preschool children are vitamin A deficient and up to half a million of these children become blind every year, of which about 50 percent die within 12 months of losing sight. Infants and children need vitamin A to promote rapid growth, to prevent infections, and to improve prognosis for common childhood illnesses like diarrhea and measles.
To help address vitamin A deficiencies, CHAI partnered with the governments of Zimbabwe and the United Kingdom to run a pilot project in which village health workers in Zimbabwe administered vitamin A supplements in their communities.
The results of the project can be found here.
