Nationwide Vitamin A-plus campaign is set to be held from October 4 to 17, with the aim to administer vitamin capsules to children aged between six to 59 months.

Around 2.93 lakh health workers and volunteers will feed the capsules to around 22 million children at 1.2 lakh permanent centres in rural and urban areas from 8am to 4pm.

This time, there will be no makeshift or mobile centres used for the campaign.

The campaign will be held in different centres across the country on different days during the given period. The date for any certain area will be announced locally three days earlier.

"Due to Covid-19 outbreak we postponed this campaign in June. We feared we could not bring all children under the coverage of the campaign. Now, we hope we can reach more than 90 percent children," said Dr SM Mostafizur Rahman, line director of the Institute of Public Health and Nutrition, during a press conference in Dhaka today.
Dr SM Mostafizur Rahman, line director of the Institute of Public Health and Nutrition, talks during a press conference in Dhaka on Wednesday, September 23, 2020. Photo: Moudud Ahmed Sujon

He said all the workers involved in the campaign will be provided with surgical masks to stay safe.

Some 2.4 million children aged between six to12 months will be given blue capsules, while around 19.3 million children aged between one to five years will be given red capsules.

Children aged below six months or over five years or with any kind of illness should not be given the capsule.

Health workers will also go home to home to feed the capsules to those children who miss the campaign, officials said.