According to the Child Health Division (CHD) under the Department of Health Services (DoHS), the preparations are almost complete. [break]
CHD has requested people to immunize their children under the campaign. It has already completed the first and second phases of the campaign in the Western, Mid-Western and Far-Western Regions and about 4.5 million children were vaccinated.
The District Public Health Office (DPHO) in Kathmandu said that it is all prepared for the campaign. At a press meet organized on Friday, DPHO said that about 658,800 children will be immunized in the month-long campaign in Kathmandu district alone. Out of these, 416,000 children are within the metropolis alone.
Mahendra Prasad Shrestha, chief of Kathmandu DPHO, said the campaign in the district will be organized in four phases. The office said that the first, second and third phases will target the metropolis and Kirtipur Municipality, and the VDCs only after that. Shrestha further informed that children under five will be immunized against polio also.
Over 10 percent of pregnant women are under the risk of infection with the rubella virus, reports suggest.
Rubella in pregnant women can cause congenital rubella syndrome, with potentially devastating consequences for babies, according to doctors. They said that children infected with rubella at birth are at risk of several deformities and health complications such as slow growth, mental retardation, malformations of the heart and eyes, deafness and problems related to liver, spleen and bone marrow.
It is believed that every year about 1,400 children are born with physical disabilities because of rubella infection.
According to the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP), the national coverage of measles vaccines is only 87 percent and a campaign is needed to curb the spread of the disease. Public health experts say that immunization is the only solution to the problem. Measles spreads through body fluids.
Giri Raj Subedi, an official at CHD, said that the campaign is part of the National Immunization Program and the government has procured all the vaccines.
The World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children´s Fund (UNICEF) are supporting with the operational costs of the campaign.
CHD said several rounds of training have been imparted to health workers and mass awareness activities carried out in the districts in preparation for the campaign.
The government has also decided to include MR vaccines in its routine immunization program. MoHP has been conducting a nationwide campaign against measles and rubella every four years since 2003. MoHP aims to eliminate the diseases by 2015 to meet one of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
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