Vitamins are being handed out to pregnant women in Waltham Forest in a bid to boost their baby’s health.

The council launched an initiative to give a two months’ supply of free tablets to improve pre-natal health after figures showed women in the borough often lacked healthy Vitamin D levels.

More than 150 local families gathered at the Lloyd Park Centre, in Walthamstow, on Thursday (July 9) to celebrate the official launch of the Waltham Forest Universal Healthy Start Vitamin Scheme.

One of six pledges outlined in the Council’s 2015 Public Health Charter, Waltham Forest’s Universal Healthy Start Vitamin Scheme aims to address the high rate of vitamin D deficiency in pregnant women in the borough.

Cllr Ahsan Khan, the Council’s Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing, said: “The idea behind this scheme is simple but the health benefits are huge. 

“We know from a recent study in Waltham Forest that almost 80 per cent of pregnant women don’t get enough vitamin D.

“Through the Universal Healthy Start Vitamin Scheme we hope to reduce this figure, and help ensure mums-to-be and newborn babies are healthy and happy.”

National guidelines recommend that pregnant and breastfeeding women take a vitamin D supplement. Breast fed babies should take vitamins from one month of age, and all children should take vitamins from six months to five years of age.

The authority Council is arranging for all pregnant women in the borough to receive one free bottle of Healthy Start Vitamins from their midwife.

The scheme is being delivered in partnership with Barts Health NHS Trust, the North East London Foundation Trust and NHS Waltham Forest Clinical Commissioning Group.