In 2014, Bangladesh was declared a polio free country by the regional certification committee of WHO South Asia Region, an official recognition for polio eradication from the country and a major public health milestone.
This great achievement came after long efforts that started in 1979 with launched of Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) and intensified in 1995 when Bangladesh joined global polio eradication efforts and conducted the first nationwide national immunization days (NIDs).
Between 1995 and 2014, 21 NIDs were successfully conducted in Bangladesh during which nearly 1 billion doses of oral polio vaccine (OPV) were administered to children under the age of 5 years.
However, maintaining the polio eradication requires sustained high vaccination coverage and Bangladesh has continuously strengthened its country wide routine immunization.
Currently, tens of thousands of children are being immunized every day, all over the country, through the EPI that aims to protect all children not only against polio but also against other vaccine preventable diseases such as tuberculosis, diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, measles and rubella.
Asma Akter, a middle-income housewife from Mirpur, Dhaka City, visited a nearby mother and child health center to vaccinate her 2-months old daughter Adiba. She is not afraid of polio anymore, because she knows there hasn’t been any case in the country for a long time. However, she understands the importance of vaccination against polio and other diseases, which is crucial not only for her baby but for the entire community.
Joynab, a slum dweller in Pallabi area, Dhaka City, also vaccinated her 45-day old daughter Nabila in a satellite clinic, close to her location. She is very happy to have such a vaccination point near her house and says that otherwise it would have been difficult for her to reach a far away health facility.
On the 24th October, the Polio Eradication Day, WHO reaffirms the commitment to support the Government of Bangladesh in its efforts to maintain polio free status of the country, as well as increasing the vaccination coverage in the country for further reducing the burden of vaccine preventable diseases.