The County Government of Mombasa through the Department of Health has commenced the distribution of Vitamin A supplements to children under the age of 5.
The exercise comes after the department conducted numerous sensitization programmes to Early Childhood Development Education Centre (ECDE) teachers and other education stakeholders.
The programme is under the County annual initiative called ‘Malezi Bora’ which focuses on giving health services to mothers and children. It is conducted twice every year in May and October.
In this year's first phase of Vitamin A supplementation, the department is targeting over 162,465 children from 6 months to 5 years of age across the County.
Vitamin A helps in boosting children’s immune system which in turn prevents occurrence of frequent illnesses in children.
Stakeholders including parents, teachers and the community at large have been urged to give the exercise full support to attain its purpose.
Some of the partners who are involved in the program are UNICEF, European Union (EU) funded (KANCO), Grace Africa, Red Cross among others.