Kathmandu, Nov. 3 -- Until around two years ago, 3.2 million under-five children were estimated to be eligible for Vitamin A supplementation and deworming tablets. Health authorities used to supply the tablets through nationwide campaigns at health facilities across the country.

However, the national census report unveiled by the National Statistic Office two years ago revised the number of targeted children to around 2.2 million.

Public health experts are concerned as coverage rates for most health programmes including immunisation and Vitamin A supplementation were 85 to over 90 percent in the past, and stayed similarly high even after the decline in the target population.

"Data on children is not based on our own estimation but deri...