Coverage Of Vitamin A Prophylaxis Programme And Its Determinants.

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.