 Given the apparent controversy in the scientific literature on early infant dosing with vitamin A and the fact that this remains the highest risk period for mortality during childhood, more data are urgently needed to resolve this confusion. If the Indonesian findings can be replicated, the policy implications for developing countries are clear. An expansion of the safe delivery concept to include supplementation of the infant and mother with vitamin A would enhance nutrition and safe motherhood program impact in an extremely cost-efficient fashion. As practices in India move increasingly in the direction of attended childbirth, the opportunity to intervene becomes easier with significant potential for having a dramatic impact on infant mortality. 