Bangladesh's immunization campaign has been successfully completed with 96 percent of children under five being covered, through the three rounds, in three Polio National Immunization Days (NIDs).
Carried out on April 16th, May 13th and June 11th, the campaign aimed to cover 22 million children under the age of five, to protect them from the possible resurgence of the poliovirus.The campaign was triggered by the affirmation of a nine-year-old girl, from rural Bangladesh, having contracted the disease. This was the first case in five years.
Each NID was followed by a four-day house to house search to ensure that all the childrenwere vaccinated.
Duangvadee Sungkhobol, World Health Organization (WHO) Representative to Bangladesh said, "This is the first large scale response by a country in line with the newly adopted resolution of the 59th World Health Assembly and it demonstrates the commitment and capacity of Bangladesh and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to implement world class primary healthcare".
The drive was a joint venture by the Bangladesh government, UNICEF, WHO, Rotary International and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and it was carried out within five weeks of official confirmation of polio in the country.
UNICEF Bangladesh Representative Louis-Georges Arsenault said "These special NIDs speak volumes on how a well-timed, well-orchestrated and well-designed response mechanism can contain the spread and resurgence of a serious health hazard like polio".
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