Coverage Evaluation of Vitamin A in Oil Using Lot Quality Technique among the Beneficiaries in a Block of West Bengal, India

Ritu Ghosh
2013 IOSR Journal of Dental and Medical Sciences  
VAD is a controllable public health and nutritional problem. Ensuring high supplementation coverage is critical for eliminating VAD. Objectives: i) To assess the coverage of prophylactic Vitamin A in Oil among children aged 9-59 months in Amdanga Block ii) to find out the poorly performing villages (lots) iii)to determine the reasons for non receipt of a megadose. Methodology: A cross sectional study was conducted among the beneficiaries using LQT from December 2012-January 2013. The total and
more » ... ot sample sizes were 663 and 9 respectively to be covered in 81 villages. The final sample size was 729. Decision value for a lot was set at 2. Data were collected from the Immunization card. The reasons were ascertained following WHO proforma. Results: Only 0.4% received age appropriate doses. Due to lack of supply for the last one year, children who missed ≤2 doses were considered acceptable. The estimated coverage was 67.16%; 59.2% lots had less satisfactory performance. The coverage with valid doses declined from the 1 st to the 9 th from 57.6% to 0%. Children who missed >2doses were significantly higher among those ≥36 months than <36 months (78.6% vs 21.4%); no significant association was found with gender. Lack of supply was the commonest cause (68.18%) of non receipt of a dose. Conclusion: BCC addressing both beneficiaries and providers is required to mitigate the lack of supply by improving the dietary intake, regular attendance to ICDS centre and early identification of ocular morbidities.
doi:10.9790/0853-1032326 fatcat:tuzti26qfzhybpmsnq5aaft7qy