Oral Cholera vaccination begins in city
The campaign will continue till 2 July
The oral vaccination for Cholera has started in five diarrhoea-prone areas of Dhaka city with an aim to immunise 23 lakh people during the first round.
The campaign started at 700 makeshift centres on Sunday that will continue until 2 July.
"We will provide oral vaccine to the people of all ages with 23 lakh at the diarrhoea-prone areas. The diarrhoea outbreak has reduced significantly in those areas where we gave vaccines of trial basis," Health Minister Zahid Maleque said inaugurating the campaign at the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh icddr,b's Sasakawa Auditorium.
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In Bangladesh, generally, there are two outbreaks of diarrhoea that take place during the months of April to May and August to September.
The number of diarrhoeal patients in Dhaka from March to May this year was many times higher than in the past. More than half of these patients live in five areas of Dhaka city –– Jatrabari, Dakshin Khan, Sabujbagh, Mohammadpur and Mirpur.
During this time, the number of cholera patients rose to about 34% of all patients.
The target has been set to vaccinate about five lakh residents of Jatrabari, about 4.20 lakh in Sabujbagh, about 2.80 lakh in Dakshin Khan, about 7.80 lakh in Mirpur and about four lakh in Mohammadpur.
