Prior to the commencement of the upcoming nationwide Measles-Rubella (MR) vaccination campaign (25 February – 20 March 2024), a high-level meeting chaired by Dr Sangeeta Kaushal Mishra, Director General, Department of Health Services (DoHS), Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP), was convened by the Family Welfare Division, DoHS, with support from WHO, to discuss strategies for successful implementation of the MR vaccination campaign, achieve high coverage in the campaign, and to strengthen Nepal's routine immunization program.
Participants from the high-level meeting on measles-rubella vaccination campaign 2024 held in Bagmati Province, Nepal. Photo credit: WHO Nepal/S.G.Amatya
The meeting was conducted under the chief guardianship of Hon’ble Minister of Health and Population, Mohan Bahadur Basnet; guardianship of Hon’ble Member of National Planning Commission, Prof. Dr R. P. Bichha; Secretaries of the MoHP, Dev Kumari Guragain and Dr Roshan Pokhrel; and additional Secretaries of the MoHP, Dr Tanka Barakoti and Dr Bikash Devkota.
Hon’ble Minister of Health and Population (left) and WHO Representative to Nepal (right) providing their remarks and recommendations for the successful conduction of the measles-rubella vaccination campaign 2024 at the high-level meeting held in Bagmati Province, Nepal. Photo credit: WHO Nepal/S.G.Amatya
The meeting was attended by high-level officials from the MoHP and DoHS, Secretaries from the provincial Ministry of Social Development/Ministry of Social Development and Health/Ministry of Health/Ministry of Health and Population, and Directors from Provincial Health Directorate and Provincial Health Logistics Management Centres. Chair of the National Immunization Advisory Committee, Member of Adverse Event Following Immunization (AEFI) Committee, WHO Representative to Nepal, and UNICEF Representative to Nepal also attended the meeting.
Hon’ble Secretary of the Ministry of Health and Population (top) and Director of Family Welfare Division (bottom) providing their remarks at the meeting. Photo credit: WHO Nepal/S.G.Amatya
Strategies for improving stakeholder collaboration, including identifying and vaccinating zero-dose children and the need to achieve measles and rubella elimination by 2026 were discussed at the meeting. WHO will continue to support the MoHP and partners to implement appropriate strategies to successfully conduct the campaign which aims to vaccinate an estimated 5.7 million children nationwide.
Dr Abhiyan Gautam, Chief of the Child Health and Immunization Section of the Family Welfare Division, Ministry of Health and Population, giving a presentation at a training of master trainers on measles-rubella vaccination campaign in Nepal. Photo credit: WHO Nepal/S.G.Amatya
A training of master trainers for provincial immunization focal persons from the Provincial Ministry of Social Development, Provincial Ministry of Health, Provincial Health Directorates, and Provincial Health Logistic Management Center on the campaign objectives and strategies will be held on 24 January. They will further train over 9000 district and local-level immunization focal persons.
You can read more on the training here.