indian council of medical research - Pondicherry University DSpace ...

observed in Calcutta (Anonymous,l982). Many young people are aware that low iron
content and poor availability of iron is a major cause of anemia (Kapll et a1.,1991). The
low iron content of the average Indian diet of rice and dhal has been observed by some
Investigators (Aspatwar and Bapat,l9Q5). A combination of school and community
based health education and supplementation was found to cause a significant
decrease in anemia (Kanani,1995). The national program for prophylaxis against
nutritional anemia targets pregnant and lactating mother and children upto 12 years of
age only (Park, 1997).
[c) Vitamin A deficienct
(i) Global scenario
It has been estimated that about 40 mill~on children in the world suffer from vitamin A
deflclency of whom 4,00,000 have some degree of eye damage Every year 2,50,000
preschool children d~e of complications associated with vitamin A deficiency. More than
30 0% of these children belong to South East Asian countr~es (United Nations,l992).
(ii) lndlan scenarlo
It has been estimated that 52,000 children become totally blind and 1,10,000 - 1.32.000
become partially blind every year due to vitamin A deficiency
in India
(Bhaskaram,l995). There is a w~de variation in the prevalence of vitamin A deficiency
in different parts of lndia ranging from 0.3% to 86.0% (Garg et a1.,1986, Aspatwar and
Bapat,1996: Table 5.3). The variation in the prevalence could be due to seasonal
variation ,r
due to different methods employed in detecting this disorder (Garg et
a1.,1983). Various methods have been used to diagnose vitamin A deficiency. These
include the following:- i) assessment of dietary vitamln A; ii) biochemical assessment of