Vitamin A doses save the lives of more than 30,000 children annually in the impoverished nation of Bangladesh.  The supplements increase children’s resistance to disease, as well as improving their chances for survival, growth and development, according to UNICEF.  In Bangladesh, infections such as measles and diarrhoea contribute to more than one-third of deaths among children under five.  A vitamin A capsule, costing only one taka [US $1 = 69 taka] can increase a child’s chances of survival by up to 25 percent.  Bangladesh’s child mortality rate (under five years of age) was 69% per live births in 2006. Child rights activist and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare have successfully provided vitamin A doses to 19 million Bangladesh children.