VITAMIN-A ADMINISTRATION AND PRESCHOOL-CHILD MORTALITY

A double blind study conducted during January 90-March 91 in a rural part of Varanasi district in Uttar Pradesh state of India on 9987 and 5260 children under six years of age demonstrated that administration of vitamin A reduced overall mortality by 14.0%. The additional data collected from January 1991 to February 92 under similar settings on 1314 and 1200 children of same age in the experimental and control groups respectively and from all children suffering from xerophthalmia who received mega dose of vitamin A (200,000 I.U.), taken together, show that vitamin A supplementation results in 16.9% reduction in mortality. Mortality was reduced in unimmunized children by 22.0%, diarrhea by 18.8% and measles by 9.0%. However, significant reduction in mortality in vitamin A supplemented group was observed only for deaths due to severe malnutrition. No death was recorded in xerophthalmia children who received mega dose of vitamin A (200,000 I.U.). The child survival pattern remained unaltered and mortality pattern remained unchanged significantly even after one year of withdrawal, thus denying the possibility of any substantial change in the study area for births and deaths. Thus the finding that vitamin A supplementation protects against overall mortality and in particular deaths due to gastroenterits, severe malnutrition and in unimmunized children is of significance.