Bangladesh will immunise around 22 million children aged 0-59 months on December 21 (Saturday) for bolstering its polio-free status by providing two drops of polio vaccines during the 21st National Immunisation Day (NID).
Health workers and volunteers will administer oral polio vaccines to 22 million children at 140,000 sites – in health facilities and health centres, schools – as well as mobile sites (bus, boat and train stations) throughout the country. A four-day Child-to-Child Search will also be conducted from December 22-26 by mobile teams in order to ensure that no child is left out.
Before 1986, an estimated 11,500 children in Bangladesh used to develop polio every year, said a Unicef press release on Thursday.
Following the launch of the Global Polio Eradication programme in 1988, the intensification of polio vaccination activities, notably through the organisation of NIDs, led to the gradual decline of polio cases.
Bangladesh has successfully maintained polio-free status since 2006, after the last case of importation related poliomyelitis. This dramatic achievement is a result of sustained bi-partisan political commitment to child immunization in general, and to polio eradication in particular, and strong partnership between government, civil society and development partners.
“About 95 percent of eligible children are usually reached during NIDs, an excellent result indeed. However, we need to do more to ensure that no child is left behind, particularly those living in hard-to-reach and deprived communities,” said Unicef Bangladesh Representative Pascal Villeneuve.
“I urge all political parties to make this day a success by keeping the upcoming NID out of the purview of any political programme for the greater interest of the children of Bangladesh. Full access to children must be protected and preserved so that the heroes of the polio campaigns – the volunteers, the vaccinators and the social mobilizers – can continue to make history by keeping the scourge of polio away from our children.”
Meanwhile, World Health Organization (WHO) Representative to Bangladesh Dr Thushara Fernando said: “Bangladesh is a model in South East Asia Region for polio eradication due to the strong commitments from all successive governments since 1995. In each year, political leadership of successive governments has spearheaded the national EPI programme to successfully conduct NIDs.”
The National Immunisation Day (NID) marks the end point of several months of careful planning by the National EPI programme under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
Thousands of field managers, frontline health workers and volunteers have joined forces to ensure that no child is missed out.
Source: UNB Connect
