After the measles outbreak, the Baglung Provincial Public Health Office has announced full vaccination coverage by administering vaccines to 32,000 children in various municipalities.
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After the outbreak of measles last February, the Provincial Public Health Office immediately began containment efforts and vaccinated 32,000 children. The office also conducted a separate program for regular and complete immunization.
The Provincial Public Health Office Baglung vaccinated 32,000 children, including treatment of measles-infected children and the establishment of isolation centers.
After the outbreak was detected in wards 7, 8, and 9 of Dhorpatan Municipality, 6,075 children within Dhorpatan Municipality were vaccinated in the first phase. According to Provincial Public Health Office Chief Praveen Sharma, an additional 26,347 children were vaccinated from Baisakh to Asar during the second campaign.
Vaccinations were also administered in Nisikhola Rural Municipality, Tamakhola Rural Municipality, Badigad Rural Municipality, and Galkot Municipality, in addition to Dhorpatan Municipality. He stated that there are plans to vaccinate in the remaining municipalities next year. “This vaccination program is part of the campaign to eradicate measles and rubella,” Sharma said. “Although the vaccine is usually given to children within 15 months of birth, due to the outbreak, it was administered to children up to 15 years old.”
After the infection was detected in Dhorpatan on Falgun 19, health workers visited homes to treat children even during the election period. The disease spread for about a month. During that time, 244 children in Dhorpatan were infected with measles. When measles was found in people from birth up to 20 years old, a World Health Organization team also came here for investigation. Preliminary research found that children from nomadic settlements in Dhorpatan had not been vaccinated, and the infection spread from them to others.
After a government campaign to re-vaccinate all children, vaccination was completed in five local levels of western Baglung. In addition, all necessary vaccines were administered to 3,278 children aged up to 15 months and 10,979 children aged 16 months to 5 years, totaling 14,257 children, and the district was declared fully immunized and sustainable.
According to Raj Kumar Khatri, immunization supervisor at the Provincial Public Health Office Baglung, although measles spread in Dhorpatan, sporadic cases with similar symptoms were seen in other parts of the district, so the goal was set to eradicate the disease by vaccinating throughout the district. Since those already vaccinated are not at risk even if infected, everyone was vaccinated this year. The goal is to eradicate measles and rubella by 2026.
Besides vaccination, the office has also implemented programs to identify and treat adolescents with anemia throughout the district, reduce malnutrition, and make schools nutrition-friendly.
According to Ram Prasad Khanal, head of the health section, 6,242 children underwent anemia and nutrition screening in this campaign, which started this year from Baglung Municipality. Khanal said the campaign has identified the impact on children and necessary treatment has also begun.
