Good health needs balanced diet and a balanced diet is that which contains normal proportion of elements - carbohydrates, fats, iron, vitamins and proteins etc. If any person does not get some of these essential elements, his health is adversely affected. Vitamin A is also such an element, which is very essential for healthy body, especially for children.
The lack of vitamin A permanently blinds millions of children every year in the developing countries including Pakistan and leaves tens of millions more liable to three leading causes of child death - diarrhoea, measles and pneumonia, which, according to researchers, are related to vitamin A deficiency.
Most of the people live in areas where the intake of vitamin A is inadequate. Recent studies show that a child's chances of dying from common infections increase by 20 percent if he/she has even a mild level of vitamin A deficiency. As vitamin A deficiency lowers the level of moisture in the respiratory tract, the child has pneumonia attacks. Most of the children with vitamin A deficiency suffer from different chest diseases.
Researches show that vitamin A strengthens the immune system of children and helps resist different diseases like diarrhoea, measles and pneumonia etc.
In Pakistan 20 to 30 percent children under five years of age are reported to be suffering from vitamin A deficiency. This situation is due to intake of food with very low or even no content of vitamin A. Statistics show that mostly children eating food having no vitamin A are adversely affected. This leads to partial or absolute blindness among children.
Vitamin A situation world over: All over the world 20 million children are affected by vitamin A deficiency. Every year 500,000 children's eyesight gets affected. This is one of the major causes of deaths among children under five years of age. Yearly about 2,500,000 children die due to vitamin A deficiency.
Vitamin A effects on the eyesight: Due to vitamin A deficiency, a child has difficulty to see in the dark. During day also if the room is dark he/she would have difficulty in seeing.
He/she cannot see clearly in the bright light and closes his/her eyes and the eyes become watery. This condition is alarming as with the passage of time the vision of the child weakens and finally he/she becomes blind. Mostly the eyes of such children remain red and small white coloured grains appear in the eyes, which then turn into white sheet. If vitamin A treatment is not started in time and its supplements of vitamin a are not given to the child, sores appear in the eyes, which leads to permanent blindness.
Prevention: Due to poverty and low literacy levels in our country people do not know easy access to available sources to obtain vitamin A or other essential nutrients and minerals. Vitamin A can be acquired from all yellow and orange coloured fruits and vegetables including papaya, mango, carrot and green leafy vegetables and also from milk by-products. Adding fruits or green vegetables to the child's daily diet is essential.
Timely medical treatment helps in preventing eye ailments and saves the child from losing his/her eyesight. Proper supplements of vitamin A can help restore the affected child's eyesight but it depends upon the damage already caused.
Vitamin A drops: The Health Ministry has started a programme to overcome the vitamin A deficiency in children by giving them extra doses of vitamin A during different campaigns. With the collaboration of UNICEF, WHO and other organisations children of six months to five years of age will be given vitamin A drops twice every year.