Original Article introductionVitamin A deficiency is one of the causes of immune system depression which affects about 130 million preschool children and 7 million pregnant women mostly in developing countries. [1] Vitamin A deficiency in under-five children can also cause mortality risk up to 20%-30%. [1] Xerophthalmia among preschool children amounts to about 5 million cases, 10% of which can potentially lead to blindness. [2,3] Even though there have already been significant improvements, Vitamin A deficiency is still the cause of at least 650,000 young children deaths annually, which are related to diarrhea, measles, malaria, and other infections. [4,5] The World Health Organization recommends Vitamin A supplementation program to children aged from 6 to 59 months, as it is still the main choice in dealing with Vitamin A deficiency cases. However, there is still a need for other efforts in the future to achieve sustainable prevention; one of them is Vitamin A fortification in food sources. Education and nutritional knowledge are also important, especially for mothers, to improve the growth and development of children. [1] In Libya, because of the war and the risk of nutritional problems which always accompanies wars, a free Vitamin A supplementation campaign was conducted for the first time, in the last week of March 2018 for children aged from 6 to 59 months. Therefore, the study aimed first to explore the knowledge and attitude of the parents regarding Vitamin A supplementation campaign, second, to assess the coverage rate of Vitamin A supplementation among under-five children in Benghazi, and third, to find the parents' rationale for not giving their children Vitamin A supplementation. SubJEctS and mEthodSThis study was conducted between April 1 and May 31, 2018, in the maternal and child health (MCH) clinics and pediatric clinics Background: According to the World Health Organization, Vitamin A deficiency can cause immune system depression in about 130 million preschool children and 7 million pregnant women mostly in developing countries and cause mortality risk up to 20%-30%. Objectives: We aimed to evaluate the knowledge, attitude, and practice of parents in Benghazi regarding the Vitamin A campaign. Subjects and Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study of 1390 parents attending maternal and child health clinics and pediatric clinics at six main polyclinics, in Benghazi in April and May 2018. Results: Most of the parents were younger than 40 years (71%). Mothers constitute 68% of the study population and 52% of the children were male. Half of the parents had higher education. Only 40% of the parents were having good knowledge about the benefits and food sources of Vitamin A. The coverage rate of Vitamin A supplementation among under-five children in the study was 66%. The main reason for not giving their children Vitamin A supplementation in this study was the lack of awareness of the campaign during the previous year. However, 88% of the interviewed parents had a positive attitude of regiving Vitami...

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Introduction: Diabetic macular edema (DME) is the most common cause of decreased vision in diabetic retinopathy (DR) and its detection needs equipment and skills. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is an objective technique that can measure retinal morphologic characteristic which help improving diagnosis and treatment. Aims: This study was conducted to evaluate the role of OCT macula in the screening for DME in patients with diabetes by comparing it to clinical funduscopy in addition to assessing the relationship between central macular thickness (CMT) as measured by OCT macula and the visual acuity of patient. Settings and Design: A retrospective study was done at Sidi Hussein Health center/Benghazi in the period between 2014 and 2017. Subjects and Methods: The data of 393 (786 eyes) patients with diabetes (type II) were reviewed. Cases characteristics records were extracted in addition to fundus examination records (done by noncontact +90-diopter lens). The records of OCT (CMT) were evaluated for agreement with the subjective fundus examination and in relation to other measures. Data were presented as frequencies and the statistical analyses were performed using Statistical Package for the Social Science (Windows version 17.0; SPSS Inc., USA). Results: Around 537 eyes (82%) of eyes with mild DME as diagnosed by OCT were having no DR when examined subjectively. With OCT, it was found that 555 eyes (85%) with mild DME were having good visual acuity (logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution 0.3 and less). About 10 eyes (71%) having severe DME were having duration of diabetes of 10–20 years. Conclusions: OCT is a noninvasive method that can objectively detect and quantify early DME before it affects the vision of patients and it is strongly recommended that this should be the technique of choice for detecting and screening of DME in Libyan patients.