AID cooperative agreement no. OTR-0284-A-00-0073-00 with the International Eye Foundation to support the vitamin A intervention project

The Honduras project will be carried out in a peri-urban settlement area in the northwest quadrant of metropolitan Tegucigalpa and will consist of four interventions: (1) providing a single dose of Vitamin A to 10,000 children aged 6 months to 6 years; (2) distributing NutriAtol (a Vitamin A-enriched, sweetened boil-and-serve gruel to increase depleted vitamin A stores in children recovering from infectious illness) to households with preschool children; (3) educating mothers and older siblings on Vitamin A nutrition; and (4) train primary health promoters to examine some 20,000 children for xerophthalmia and provide treatment or referral. The Guatemala project will comprise three geographically distinct subprojects in two provinces. The project, which unlike that in Honduras represents an extension of an existing effort, will have three overall objectives: (1) to extend distribution of NutriAtol to cover 18,000 preschool children in the three areas; (2) to develop 90 school garden projects and 90 community garden projects; (3) to provide Vitamin A nutrition education to mothers, other caretakers, and health promoters.