The Importance Of Vitamin A

Over 100 million children suffer from vitamin A deficiency, causing blindness and increasing deaths and severe illness from such diverse diseases as HIV to measles and tuberculosis.  Vitamin A is common in milk, eggs, red and orange fruits, as well as some vegetables and while a child needs only tiny quantities of vitamin A to prevent blindness and a compromised immune system, diets in the developing world often lack sufficient vitamin A.

Vitamin A is stored in the liver for months, and can be easily delivered in supplementation given to children every four to six months, as well as food fortification in baby formula, margarine, oil, sugar, or milk.

Learn more about vitamin A deficiency:

The Micronutrient Initiative
http://www.micronutrient.org/

World Health Organization
http://www.who.int/nutrition/publications/vad_global_prevalence/en/index.html