World Governments Urged To Implement Vitamin A Programs For Young Children

After a meta-analysis of the results of 43 clinical trials involving 200,000 young children, British and Pakistani researchers are urging policymakers to provide vitamin A supplementation to children in low and middle income countries to prevent death and illness from conditions such as diarrhea and measles. Their analysis found vitamin A supplements reduced child mortality by 24 percent in low and middle income countries. These findings, they say, show that the benefits of vitamin A supplementation are conclusive, and further testing would be unethical. According to the authors, if the mortality risk for 190 million vitamin A deficient children were reduced by 24 percent, more than 600,000 lives would be saved each year.