Vitamin Angels & Natural Factors: Expanding Global Access to Vitamin A Where It Is Needed Most

While the world has made progress in reducing caloric hunger, micronutrient deficiency remains a serious public health challenge – especially for pregnant women, infants, and young children in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Often referred to as “hidden hunger,” it occurs when diets provide enough calories but still fall short of the vitamins and minerals needed for healthy growth and development.  

Among the most critical nutrients in this context, vitamin A is particularly important. 

Vitamin A is obtained through foods such as leafy greens, eggs, fish, and fortified staples. In many high-income countries, deficiency is relatively uncommon, due in part to routine food fortification. But in LMICs, where food insecurity and malnutrition continue to limit dietary quality, children may not receive adequate vitamin A from food alone. 

In these settings, supplementation is a well-established public health strategy. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends vitamin A supplementation for children ages 6 to 59 months in areas where deficiency is a public health concern, typically every four to six months. 

That recommendation reflects the essential role vitamin A plays in early life. It is recognized as a nutrient that contributes to immune function, vision, and normal growth. When intake is inadequate, the consequences can be significant. In children, vitamin A is important for their immune function and vision, and inadequate intake can affect both. During pregnancy, inadequate intake can contribute to vision problems and affect fetal development and maternal health. 

Because these risks are well documented, the public health response to them is widely accepted and understood. Vitamin A supplementation remains one of the most widely used nutrition interventions: it is low-cost, practical to deliver, and impactful in high-risk settings. In some contexts, it has also been associated with improved child health outcomes.  

This is the work Vitamin Angels helps advance.  

This global public health nonprofit works to improve nutrition and health outcomes for pregnant women, infants, and young children in underserved communities worldwide. Rather than building parallel delivery systems, it works through governments and local organizations to expand access. 

Vitamin Angels’ programs include vitamin A supplementation and deworming, two interventions often delivered together in high-risk settings because intestinal parasites can interfere with nutrient absorption. Together, these interventions are practical to deliver, cost-effective at scale, and well-suited to settings where need is high and resources are limited. 

Vitamin Angels currently reaches more than 74 million pregnant women, infants, and young children each year across more than 65 countries and every US state. Looking ahead, it aims to double that impact and reach 140 million women and children annually by 2033. 

For nearly two decades, Natural Factors has partnered with Vitamin Angels to help expand access to essential nutrition where the need is greatest. Each year, we provide more than 11 million doses of vitamin A, supporting over 5 million children. 

Measured in numbers, this reach is humbling; in human terms, it is even more meaningful. When provided early, the impact of timely intervention extends beyond a single vitamin A dose – it helps to ensure that something as basic as nutrition does not undermine a mother’s well-being or stand between a child and a strong start in life.