Mega OCV Campaign in the Capital!

Reactive Oral Cholera Vaccination in five hotspots in Dhaka city.

An Oral Cholera Vaccination (OCV) campaign was launched to target 2.4 million residents in the city on, June 26, 2022, to protect them from the outbreak of acute diarrheal disease. Health and Family Welfare Minister Zahid Maleque inaugurated the country’s largest-ever OCV campaign in the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b) auditorium at the capital. In collaboration with the communicable disease control of the DGHS, EPI, WHO and Unicef, icddr,b conducted this OCV campaign among the population in urban areas of Jatrabari, Sabujbagh, Mohammadpur, Mirpur, and Dakshinkhan. These areas are being considered for OCV vaccination because the cholera hospitalization rate is higher than in other areas of Dhaka city. The estimated population from the selected areas is about 2 423 447. The target population for the OCV campaign is 2 374 976 residents, excluding children of <1 year age group. A total of 406 142 were vaccinated on 1st day of the campaign, among them Dakshinkhan 44 981 Mirpur 106 835, Mohammadpur 96 252 Sabujbag 56 598 and Jatrabari 101 476.

Vaccination on-going. Photo credit: Field team member, icddr,b

Every day, 700 vaccination teams have been deployed to five vaccination areas in this campaign. Each vaccination team will work in their defined area, giving OCV to people six consecutive days from 8.00 am to 4.00 pm. A vaccination card will be provided to all vaccinees at sites after completing vaccination to identify unvaccinated populations and track vaccinees for 2nd dose of OCV. The OCV vaccination campaign will be completed within 6 days for each (1^st and 2^nd dose) round of vaccination campaign. To deliver OCV among the target population of five areas in Dhaka city, this campaign will continue till July 2, 2022.

In this mega campaign, WHO has supported developing the reactive proposal and budget and securing the funds from GAVI. WHO has released 2.4 million vaccines from the stockpile. Also, WHO has provided technical inputs in logistic management, supervision, and oversight of the OCV campaign that is currently ongoing.   

Primary school student with their vaccination card. Photo credit: Field team member

Cholera is a significant public health problem in many countries in Asia and Africa, and it has been reported to the WHO from Bangladesh since 2019. Cholera is responsible for an estimated 2.9 million cases and 95,000 deaths per year worldwide. The Global Task Force on Cholera Control (GTFCC) has launched goals to reduce cholera deaths by 90% by 2030 and eliminate cholera from at least 20 of the 47 high-burden countries, including Bangladesh. Bangladesh has taken strong leadership and endorsed a multi-sectorial National Cholera Control Plan (NCCP), including mass vaccination efforts and water/sanitation improvements from 2019-2030.   

Photo credit: Dr Anindita Shabnam, DGHS

For more information on the issues covered in this article, please contact ssultana@who.int