CARROLLTON, TX (ANS) -- As part of Gospel for Asia’s Bridge of Hope program, children receive medical care that is usually unavailable in their areas. This has a monumental impact in places where many children die from preventable diseases.

Bridge of Hope children

One Bridge of Hope center, in partnership with a humanitarian organization, took on the task of fighting one common ailment: blindness.

Diet of the Blind

In impoverished villages of South Asia, green leafy vegetables and other sources of Vitamin A are almost completely absent in children’s diets. This isn’t because these boys and girls don’t want to eat their vegetables—it’s because they can’t. The food that poor families can afford is very limited and often doesn’t include vegetables.

Tragically, severe cases of Vitamin A deficiency can lead to weakened immune systems, blindness or even death.

Replacing Essential Vegetables

Knowing that children younger than five are particularly vulnerable to this deficiency, the Bridge of Hope staff designed a seminar to teach about the importance of vitamins. They handed out pamphlets, invited a nurse to speak to the children and their parents about preventing blindness and then distributed vitamins to each child.

Similar blindness-prevention programs have occurred at other centers in South Asia over the last two years, providing vitamins to more than 5,000 children.

Read about all the benefits children receive in GFA’s Bridge of Hope program (http://www.gfa.org/sponsorachild/benefits/?cm_mmc=GFAReports-_--_--_- )