A national Vitamin A Plus campaign for children aged 6 to 59 months was held on 28 June across Bangladesh.
The Institute of Public Health Nutrition's final administrative report for the first round shows that 22,566,506 children received capsules against a target of 22,706,314, or 99.4 percent, leaving about 139,808 children outside the programme.
Rural coverage was 99.5 percent, while city corporation areas reached 98.8 percent; among urban children aged 6-11 months, coverage was 97.6 percent.
Kishoreganj had the lowest district coverage at 93.8 percent, while administrative coverage exceeded targets on paper in Meherpur, Gazipur City Corporation and Narayanganj.
IPHN Director Mohammad Yunus Ali said capsules reserved in some areas for missed children can no longer be distributed, and those children will receive capsules in the next campaign.
He said leftover capsules will be kept for the campaign in six months and will remain effective if stored at the required temperature, and that sick children may receive capsules on a doctor's prescription.
Shafiq Ahmed, whose four-year-old child in Dhaka's Dumni area was missed, said the family had not been aware of the campaign; when they went to the centre the next day no one was present, and at the ward councilor's office they were told capsules were available but no health department worker was there to administer them.
Public health specialist Dr Moshtaq Hossain said house-to-house child listing and effective microplanning are essential, with extra attention to children in slums and floating populations.