Introduction

Vitamin A deficiency is a well-known cause of blindness [1, 2] and is associated with elevated mortality among infants and children [3]. In regions where xerophthalmia is suspected, efforts to quantify the magnitude of the clinical disease arc important be cause of the documented effectiveness of supplementation programmes [1-5].

Many countries of sub-Saharan Africa are known to have high levels of vitamin A deficiency. WHO in 1988 considered Rwanda to be a B category country (insufficient information but high probability of significant public health problem) [5]. This densely populated Central African country has a very low annual per capita income of US$140, and approximately 30% of the children are reported to be malnourished [6].

At the outset of this study, insufficient data were available to adequately assess the degree of vitamin A deficiency in Rwanda. Two studies had been conducted in the area. In 1958 Roels et al. [7] reported an elevated risk of vitamin A deficiency in several regions of Rwanda; however, Bitot's spots and other less well-specified manifestations of xerophthalmia were not described separately. In 1972 Yassur [8] reported that corneal ulcers were associated with advanced malnutrition and were frequently precipitated by an acute illness in Rwanda. The present study reports on the prevalence of clinical signs of vitamin A deficiency, nutritional status, and dietary habits of young children in Rwanda.