e-Library of Evidence for Nutrition Actions (eLENA)

Vitamin A supplementation in HIV-infected infants and children 6–59 months of age

Vitamin A deficiency affects about 190 million preschool-age children, mostly from Africa and South-East Asia. In infants and children, vitamin A is essential to support rapid growth and to help combat infections. Inadequate intakes of vitamin A may lead to vitamin A deficiency which can cause visual impairment in the form of night blindness, may increase the risk of illness and death from childhood infections, and may compound the effects of HIV infection.

Research has shown that vitamin A supplementation in HIV-infected infants and children is safe and effective in reducing illness and death. Vitamin A can be safely provided to children in a large dose, rather than more frequent smaller doses, as it can be stored by the body and released over time as needed.

Many countries have successfully integrated strategies to deliver vitamin A supplements to infants and children in their national health policies, including delivery during routine health visits and immunizations.

WHO recommendations

In settings where vitamin A deficiency is a public health problem (prevalence of night blindness is 1% or higher in children 24–59 months of age or where the prevalence of vitamin A deficiency (serum retinol 0.70 µmol/l or lower) is 20% or higher in infants and children 6–59 months of age), high-dose vitamin A supplementation is recommended in infants and children 6–59 months of age.

The above recommendation can also be applied in populations where infants and children may be infected with HIV.

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Additional information for this recommendation, including a suggested scheme for supplementation, can be found in the guidance summary and in the guideline, under 'WHO documents' below.

This is one of several WHO recommendations on vitamin A supplementation. The full set of recommendations can be found in 'Full set of recommendations'.

WHO documents

WHO documents

GRC-approved guidelines
Other guidance documents
Evidence

Evidence

Systematic reviews used to develop the guidelines
Related Cochrane reviews
Clinical trials

Last update:

15 June 2017 14:52 CEST

Category 1 intervention

Guidelines have been recently approved by the WHO Guidelines Review Committee

Implementation

Essential Nutrition Actions

This intervention is an Essential Nutrition Action targeting the first 1000 days of life.

Global targets

Implementation of this intervention may contribute to the achievement of the following targets:

Global nutrition targets

Target 1: 40% reduction in the number of children under-5 who are stunted

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