Japan gives 30m doses of polio vaccine

Japanese Ambassador Matsushiro Horiguchi handed over the vaccine to Minister for Health and Family Welfare Khandker Mossharaf Hossain at a simple ceremony at the health ministry yesterday.

The handing over event filled in a positive and upbeat ambience provides impetus to the upcoming 12th National Immunisation Days (NID) scheduled for 18th January and 29th February.

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Mossharaf said, Bangladesh has so far achieved considerable success through eleven NID programmes observed earlier and called for strengthening supplementary immunisation activities to obtain global certification for polio-free status.

Unicef Representative in Bangladesh Morten Giersing highlighted the joint efforts of the government and development partners that have successfully paved the way for eradication of polio from Bangladesh.

Japan, the largest donor for polio eradication in Bangladesh, has been contributing since 1996 some 44 million US dollar.