Follow-up report:
An observation of vitamin A nutrition in La Guamita, Dominican Republic
Karen Rafferty, RD, and Sade Kosoko-Lasaki, MD, MSPH, MBA; Creighton University, Omaha, Nebraska, USA
Introduction
The SIGHT AND LIFE Newsletter 2/2005 (page 35) included a report about an eye care mission to the Dominican Republic. The report contained some statistics from the vitamin A deficiency eye screening as well as information on the distribution of mega-dose vitamin A in the country. The first mission addressed the problem of an increase in night blindness in children in the rural Dominican Republic. Children were screened for the eye signs of vitamin A deficiency (VAD), vitamin A capsules (received from SIGHT AND LIFE) were distributed, and Primary Health Care Workers (Cooperadores) were trained in the recognition of the clinical signs and symptoms of VAD and given vitamin A capsules for future distribution.
The numbers of children found with clinical symptoms are given in Tables 1 and 2. Screening was performed in total on 296 children from one urban and two rural areas.
Follow-up visit by Karen Rafferty
La Guamita de Hatillo, one of the two rural communities visited by the eye care team in February 2005, was revisited in July 2005 as part of ILAC’s (Institute for Latin American Concern) Summer Program for Health Professionals.
The following evaluations were carried out:
- Children previously diagnosed with night blindness who had received a vitamin A capsule were interviewed, to learn whether dark adaptation had improved
- The local availability and consumption of vitamin A rich food sources were investigated
- Training was given for health care professionals, the Cooperadores and the community on the consumption of foods rich in preformed vitamin A and provitamin A carotenoids.
Table 1.
Number of children (N) aged 0–10 years with medical conditions increasing the risk of vitamin A deficiency. Medical condition N* % Upper respiratory |
Table 2.
Number of children (N) aged 0–10 years with ocular signs/symptoms of vitamin A deficiency
Ocular condition N* %
|
*some children have multiple medical
conditions
The following evaluations were carried out:
- Children previously diagnosed with night blindness who had received a vitamin A capsule were interviewed, to learn whether dark adaptation had improved
- The local availability and consumption of vitamin A rich food sources were investigated
- Training was given for health care professionals, the Cooperadores and the community on the consumption of foods rich in preformed vitamin A and provitamin A carotenoids.