Community knowledge, attitudes, and preferences towards vitamin A supplementation in Kasai Oriental, Democratic Republic of the Congo: a mixed-methods study

Vitamin A deficiency remains a critical public health challenge and affects children under five years of age in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. We investigated the community-level knowledge, preferences, and attitudes towards vitamin A supplementation in the Kasaï-Oriental province. The importance of vitamin A supplementation differed among the participants, with some respondents holding health workers responsible for unclear explanations. Regarding the venue of paediatric vitamin A supplementation, the participants either favoured vitamin A supplementation in the health centres or in the households. The majority (95.5%) of respondents had relatively low knowledge scores (≤4). Knowledge was positively associated with the father’s level of education and information from community health workers (adjusted incidence rate ratio [95% confidence interval]=1.35 [1.02–1.78] and 1.56 [1.08–2.23], respectively). Community health workers played a key role in informing the community regarding vitamin A supplementation. Strengthening the competence and interactions of community health workers with community members is key factors for successful vitamin A supplementation delivery