The sorry state of vaccination programme for children and pregnant women in Bangladesh has now become a story of by-gone days. People, especially the vulnerable segment of the society, have come across the light of success in vaccination programme, as the government came up with a scheme that promised to bring great relief to people facing woes of mortality and morbidity.
Delivering effective and safe vaccines through an efficient delivery system is one of applauded public health interventions in the country.
Reversing the afflicting health woes of the people, Bangladesh has shown a great and outstanding success in vaccination programme to save the children from 10 fatal diseases. The country’s success in this field has been recognized worldwide as Prime minister Sheikh Hasina has been conferred with the prestigious award in recognition of Dhaka’s outstanding success in vaccination to immunize children.
Global Alliance for Vaccination and Immunizations- (GAVI), a global Vaccine Alliance, conferred the award on the Bangladesh premier. GAVI Board Chair Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala handed over the award to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at a ceremony at the UN Headquarters in New York recently.
Dr Iweala, in his citation, said the ‘Vaccine Hero’ award has been introduced by the GAVI to recognize global figures whose dedication to the Vaccine Alliance’s mission has played a key role in helping GAVI and its partners to protect hundreds of millions of children across the globe.
It said this is an award for those who have set out a clear ambition and displayed urgency in providing life saving vaccines to children and ensuring that no child is left out.
Sheikh Hasina is a true champion of immunisation as well as rights of the children and the women empowerment, the citation reads.
Vaccination programmes aim to reduce mortality and morbidity due to vaccine preventable diseases. Under the immunization programme, vaccines are given to infants and pregnant women for controlling vaccine preventable diseases.
Bangladesh’s vaccine programme is very large in terms of quantities of vaccine used, numbers of beneficiaries, and the numbers of immunization sessions organized.
