Health experts have long known that a lack of Vitamin A can lead to serious complications and diseases during childhood - such as measles and blindness - as well as increasing the risk of child and maternal mortality, thus undermining the health and development of poor countries. The problem facing health workers and government ministries, therefore, has been how to deliver supplemental Vitamin A to populations most at risk, and how to help those populations understand the vital role it can play in protecting health.
Guatemala pioneered the fortification of sugar with Vitamin A, and their success has influenced the country of Zambia and the launch of a new, nationwide program to ensure that Vitamin A reaches all of its people. But as this episode of LIFE shows, sugar fortification is just one part of a multi-pronged strategy that also includes experiments with the fortification of corn in local mills, administering Vitamin A supplements in mother-and-child clinics, and the cultivation of new varieties of high-yield palm trees that provide Vitamin A-rich palm oil.
With the support of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).
The other titles in this series are:
1. The Road from Rio - Questions the relevance and success of the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg.
2. Danger: Children at Work - Guatemalan agencies try to discourage child labor and fireworks production by poor families.
3. The Trade Trap - Ghanaian farmers struggle to get a foothold in the international market.
4. Kosovo: Rebuilding the Dream - Assesses the success of UN efforts in rebuilding Kosovo.
5. The Perfect Famine - Examines the causes of, and solutions to, severe famine conditions in Malawi.
6. It Takes a Village - A cyclone in Bangladesh results in the construction of an experimental community health center.
8. Cheated of Childhood - The International Labor Organization tries to rescue and rehabilitate the street children of St. Petersburg.
9. Patents and Patients - India battles HIV/AIDS using generic drugs.
10. The Doctor's Story - The US debate over abortion has severe consequences for health care in rural Nepal.
11. Sowing Seeds of Hunger - The AIDS epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa has crippled the agricultural community while forcing children to undertake the responsibilities of farming.
12. Up in Smoke - Dependence on tobacco crops and manipulation by the tobacco industry has stunted the economy of Malawi.
