 Study staff will attend all deliveries within 24 hours of the birth. At that time, the child will be dosed with either vitamin A or placebo according to their treatment assignment. Birth weight will be measured, and details of the delivery will be collected. Following delivery, a short vital status and morbidity assessment will be conducted every two weeks for the first 6 months of life. If a child death is reported, supervisors will be dispatched to the household to verify the death and to conduct a verbal autopsy. All children will receive 200,000 IU oral vitamin A at the time of the 6 month visit and discharged from the study 200,000 IU is the dose currently provided by the government of Tamil Nadu to children 6 months of age and older. 