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Fifteen infants have died and over 3000 are severely ill in Assam in
north-east India after receiving vitamin A supplements as part of a drive to
combat night blindness in under-fives. The joint UNICEF-Assam government
campaign has now been stopped and an enquiry ordered. Indian health officials
fear that either the children’s doses were too high, or the supplements were
contaminated. They also say that the campaign is unnecessary. “Vitamin A
overdose increases brain pressure in babies. Besides, its deficiency is no
longer a public health problem here,” says Coluthur Gopalan, president of the
Nutritional Foundation of India.