When is Vitamin A Deficiency considered as a public health problem?
A7 According to WHO/IVACG if in any area, 1% of children suffer from night blindness or 0.5% children have visible signs of VAD such as Bitot’s spot or 5/% pregnant women suffer from night blindness, then VAD is defined as a public health problem in that area. WHO guidelines (in the absence of data on clinical VAD signs) suggests that Under 5 Mortality Rate (U5MR) of 70 or more could be taken as an indicator of likely Vitamin A deficiency problem.
