Second Round of the 17th NID completed

In an effort to sustain its polio-free status, Bangladesh observed the 2nd round of the 17th National Immunization Day (NID) on 3^rd January 2009 through administering two drops of the polio vaccine to 22 million children aged 0-5 years. Albendazole anti-worm tablets were also provided to 2 – 5-year-old children along with the Polio drops. The 1^st round was observed on December 29,  2008.

On the day, field workers from both units of the Ministry of Health, Bangladesh,  the Health Wing (DGHS) and Family Planning unit (DGFP), active support from six lakh volunteers worked all day long  at the community level to make the programme successful. A four-day house-to-house search will follow in order to make sure that no child has been  left out.

The Government of Bangladesh (GOB) with support of UNICEF, WHO, Rotary International and the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, Atlanta, GA, USA) mounted a model response to immunize all under-5 children across the country when the first case of polio was detected in March 2006 after an absence of five years. Eighteen polio cases were thereafter detected in 12 districts across all divisions of Bangladesh with the last one reported on 22 November, 2006. Since 1995, Bangladesh started NIDs to eradicate Polio. This was in addition to its nation-wide normal immunization programme.   

Since the detection of the poliovirus in March, 2006 there have been six rounds of polio NIDs in 2006, and 4 in 2007 and, in each round, it reached between 95 percent and 98.2 percent of under-five children in the country. The highest ever coverage (98.2) was achieved during the 15th and 16^th  NIDs conducted in 2007. Due to efforts of the government and other partners, the coverage of vitamin A supplementation in Bangladesh increased from around 50 percent in the mid-1990s to above 95 percent in recent years. This tremendous achievement of administering OPV and Vitamin A was the result of the combined efforts of multi sectoral involvement of the government of Bangladesh and other non-governmental organizations.