Vitamin A Deficiency

About 250 million children are showing signs of vitamin A deficiency such as difficulty seeing in poor light, and dry eyes.

This year an estimated 350,000 children will go blind and a further two million will die simply from a lack of vitamin A.

Vitamin A capsules are distributed to help prevent avoidable blindness. Photo: Thomas Einberger.

What causes a Vitamin A Deficiency?

Vitamin A Deficiency, exactly as its name suggests, is caused by a lack of vitamin A in a child’s diet. The absence of vitamin A-rich foods, such as leafy green vegetables, has severe health consequences for children. As their immune systems become weakened, blindness as well as other illnesses, and even death, are possible.

How can it be prevented?

This form of blindness can be prevented with only two or three vitamin A capsules per year, costing just pennies each to provide.

Vitamin A is also vital for a child’s immune system. Providing vitamin–deficient children these supplements lessens the chance that they will suffer from other diseases.

CBM is also active in educating families on the importance of Vitamin A rich foods. CBM was able to distribute vitamin A tablets to over 1.4 million people in 2011.

Vision 2020: Right to Sight

The Vision 2020: The Right to Sight initiative aims to eliminate this cause of avoidable blindness by 2020.