Vitamin a supplementation

Abstract

Vitamin A supplementation involves treating all children aged approximately 6-months to 5-years in areas at high-risk for vitamin A deficiency with high-dose vitamin A supplements two or three times per year. Vitamin A supplementation is generally inexpensive on a per-person basis. Trials conducted in the 1980s and early 1990s found that vitamin A supplementation greatly reduces child mortality. A more recent trial with more participants than all previous studies combined did not find a statistically significant effect. This raises questions about the impact we should expect from vitamin A supplementation today. We believe that vitamin A supplementation may be one of the most cost-effective ways to save lives when the program is high quality and delivered in locations with high child mortality rates. See our most recent cost-effectiveness analysis for our cost per life saved estimate for Helen Keller International’s vitamin A supplementation programs.