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Discontinuing five decades of vitamin A supplementation policy in India without valid scientific evidence: A step in Haste

I read the correspondence by Sachdev et al. [1]. The contents were rather harsh, and they continued to present incorrect arguments to justify their decision to discontinue the universal VAS programme in India. The authors have deliberately avoided direct evidence-based responses to the queries raised in my previous correspondence [2]. Before responding to each of their new queries, I wish to state for the readers of the journal that the “Vitamin A Supplementation Programme for Prophylaxis Against Nutritional Blindness among Children in India” is very much alive even though the strong advocacy by the expert committee of the sub-group on vitamin A policy (SGVAP) to convince the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), Government of India, to the discontinue the same.

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Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey (CNNS) National Report 2016-8. https://nhm.gov.in/WriteReadData/l892s/1405796031571201348.pdf.

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  1. Scientist-G, Division of Public Health Nutrition, ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad, India

    Nimmathota Arlappa

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Arlappa, N. Discontinuing five decades of vitamin A supplementation policy in India without valid scientific evidence: A step in Haste.
Eur J Clin Nutr (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41430-023-01374-9

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  • Received: 14 April 2023

  • Revised: 14 November 2023

  • Accepted: 16 November 2023

  • Published: 28 November 2023

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41430-023-01374-9

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