Peer-reviewed article
Coverage Of Vitamin A Prophylaxis Programme And Its Determinants.
Anu Thomas, S Bindu, Roy George ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examined how many children under five in Kerala, India received vitamin A supplementation and what factors affect uptake. Researchers interviewed 113 mothers and found that 35% of children received all recommended doses, 57% received some doses, and 8% received none. The main barriers were lack of awareness about the full schedule, unavailability at health centres, pandemic-related fears, and distance to facilities.
Key points
- 35% of children had full coverage of vitamin A prophylaxis, 57% had partial coverage, and 8% had no coverage
- Significant association found between child's age and vitamin A prophylaxis coverage (p<0.001)
- Key facilitators included availability at government facilities, integration with other immunisations, and health worker reminders
- Main barriers were lack of awareness about nine required doses, unavailability at immunisation centres, COVID-19 fears, and distance to facilities
Limitations
The study used convenience sampling in one urban area (Kozhikode Corporation), which limits generalisability to other regions and rural settings. The small sample size of 113 mothers and cross-sectional design cannot establish causation or track changes over time.
Abstract
Vitamin A deficiency is one of the most important causes of preventable childhood blindness. The main objective of this study was to identify the coverage of vitamin A prophylaxis programme and its determinants. Descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. The study was conducted on 113 mothers and their children under five years of age residing in Kozhikode Corporation, Kerala. The subjects were selected using convenience sampling. Direct interview of the subjects was conducted to identify the determinants of vitamin A prophylaxis programme. Tools used were semi structured questionnaire and checklist. The data obtained from the subjects was verified using immunisation card. The study findings showed that more than half of the children (57%) have partial coverage, while 35 percentage of subjects had full coverage and about 8 percentage of subjects had no coverage of vitamin A prophylaxis programme. There is significant association between age of the child and vitamin A prophylaxis programme (p<0.001). The most important facilitating factors for vitamin A prophylaxis were; availability of vitamin A prophylaxis at Government hospital/ primary health centre/ Subcentre, vitamin A given along with the other doses of immunization, reminder or recall message from health workers. The most important barriers of vitamin A prophylaxis in this study were, lack of awareness about the nine doses of vitamin A, unavailability of vitamin A prophylaxis from the immunisation centre, fear of going out owing to covid 19 pandemic and absence of vitamin A prophylaxis facility nearby.
Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
- Intervention
- Vitamin A prophylaxis programme delivered through government health facilities, integrated with immunisation schedules, with health worker reminders
- Population
- Children under five years of age in Kozhikode Corporation, Kerala, India (n=113)
Key finding
35% of children achieved full coverage of vitamin A prophylaxis