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These devastating problems could be easily prevented by promoting the production and consumption of foods rich in vitamin A or by supplementing children's diets with just two vitamin A capsules per year at a production cost of around two US cents per capsule.
Availability of vitamin A rich foods should not be confused with consumption. For example, per capita availability is very
    high in the Sahelian belt and West Africa, as well as in South Asia. Yet VAD is endemic in these regions. Availability clearly masks problems of uneven distribution, generally associated with poverty.
    Several countries have now begun to take action to improve the intake of Vitamin A. In the attached table, countries are ranked 1 to 4 according to progress they have made in instituting measures against vitamin A deficiency. Food based measures have again been sorely neglected until now.

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