A strategy for scaling up vitamin A supplementation for young children in a remote rural setting in Zimbabwe

Abstract

Background. Vitamin A deficiency is a public health problem in Zimbabwe. Addressing vitamin A deficiency has the potential to enhance resistance to disease and reduce mortality, especially in children aged <5 years. Objective. To describe a vitamin A supplementation outreach strategy implemented in one of the remote rural districts in Zimbabwe, which increased coverage after being implemented in difficult circumstances in a remote rural region. Methods. We implemented and adapted a vitamin A supplementation outreach strategy within the national immunisation days (NIDs) and extended programme of immunisation in a remote rural district in Zimbabwe. The strategy involved supplementating children at prescheduled outreach points once per month for the whole year. Despite usual operational challenges faced at implementation, this approach enabled the district to increase delivery of vitamin A supplements to young children in the district. Results. The strategy covered 63 outreach sites, with two sites being covered per day and visited once per month for the whole year. Coverage reached 71% in an area in which previous coverage rates were around <50%. Conclusion. Implementing a vitamin A supplementation outreach strategy increased vitamin A supplementation coverage among child ren living in a remote rural region. This strategy can potentially be used by Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) member states. However, we recommend further exploration of this strategy by others working in similar circumstances. S Afr J CH 2014;8(2):6467.

Performance, Variance Components, and Acceptability of Pro-vitamin A-Biofortified Sweetpotato in Southern Africa and Implications in Future Breeding

“…The production of white-fleshed, low-quality genotypes used to be mainly due to the unavailability of high-quality OFSP genotypes, making these genotypes uncommon in sweetpotatogrowing communities where they are needed most. However, VAD is a public health problem in SSA (Dube et al, 2014), leading to blindness in children under the age of 5 years. According to a survey carried out by Dube et al (2014), up to 90% of children in southern Africa could not receive VA supplementation under the national VA supplementation program.…”

“…However, VAD is a public health problem in SSA (Dube et al, 2014), leading to blindness in children under the age of 5 years. According to a survey carried out by Dube et al (2014), up to 90% of children in southern Africa could not receive VA supplementation under the national VA supplementation program. In view of this shortfall in supplementing VA, the production of crops rich in VA such as OFSP genotypes is a good alternative (Burri, 2011).…”

“…In most African countries, sweetpotato is grown as a supplementary crop, harvested as a piece meal for household consumption and for income generation. Despite various crops being utilized in Africa, vitamin A deficiency (VAD) remains a major public health challenge in developing countries (Burri, 2011;Dube et al, 2014). According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the severity of VAD can lead to disorders, such as xerophthalmia, anemia, and increased susceptibility to infection (Gurmu et al, 2014).…”

“…World development and health agencies have responded to the problem of VAD by distributing VA tablets and fortifying processed food. However, according to Dube et al (2014) and , many resourcelimited families in SSA fail to sufficiently and regularly access these supplements.…”