Awareness and Acceptance Of National Vitamin A Supplementation Programme And Prevalence Of Xwrophthalmia In Rural Gujarat

The present study is an attempt to assess the impact of National Vitamin A supplementation programme which is operative in Gujarat since 1974, in relation to awareness and acceptance of the programme and prevalence of xerophthalmia in children of 0-6 years of age in a sample rural population. A pretested proforma with family and child schedules was administered for this purpose followed by clinical examination of the children. Awareness ranged from 2.74% to 54.43% with an average of 49.9% Those aware accepted the programme better (84.15%) compared to the non-aware group (17.9%). Ignorance was the most significant cause (83.8%) for non- awareness. The awareness was maximum (93.48%) in socio- economic class I and minimum in class V (14.98%). The literate parents (69.97%) were more aware of the programme than the illiterate (23.7%). Significantly more cases of xerophthalia (23.66%) were detected amongst the children belonging to non- aware group compares to aware group(11.32%). The study brings out the strong positive correlation between the awareness and acceptance of the programme and some of the possible causes of the low level of awareness leading to reduced acceptance and thereby increased prevalence of xerophthalmia.