E-drug: Vitamin A and child deaths in India
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While one regrets the death of these little ones, it is still a wonder
how these deaths are deliberately and misguidedly being attributed
to the life-saving (yes it is!) vitamin A capsules given to these
children. This cannot be true except if the products are bad in
themselves, but then the capsules in question are okay.
Fortunately, Dr. Amit Sen Gupta of the National Campaign
Committee for Drug policy in India has said that a correlation
between the vitamin A given to these children and the deaths could
not be established.
Our Organisation has been distributing vitamin A capsules to
children and breastfeeding mothers in rural and poor urban
communities and to children in urban schools in Lagos State of
Nigeria for the past seven years. We have not witnessed any
complications, death or disability resulting thereof.
From our experience, the vitamin A capsules from the Task Force
SIGHT AND LIFE and UNICEF are very good, if available; and have
yielded practical positive results for us in the management of VAD
and reduction of childhood morbidity and mortality.
One finds the sustained criticisms of this commendable effort of
providing vitamin A to needy communities as a semblance of the
usual business/commercial non-health interest. It is time we try to
understand them for what they apparently are, not what they are
presented to us as.
Dr. Uzodinma A. Adirieje
Executive Coordinator
OPTONET International
P.O. Box 4127, Oshodi, Lagos, Nigeria
Phone: 234-1-4803550, Mobile: 234-90-414811
Fax: 234-1-4520333
E-mail: afrepton@hotmail.com
Office/Courier: 32C Adetola Street, Aguda-Surulere, Lagos, Nigeria
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