Cholera vaccines will be administered to at least 12 lakh people, initially in city’s six zones. People living in different places of the country will also be given the vaccines to eliminate the chances of fatal diseases taking place. This was announced at a press meet held at Pan Pacific Sonargaon hotel in the capital on Sunday.
icddr,b organised the event for the upcoming inaugural ceremony of 15th ‘Asian Conference on Diarrhoeal Disease and Nutrition (ASCODD) on ‘Typhoid, Cholera, other enteric diseases and their relationship to nutritional disorders: Persisting challenges for low and middle income countries in an era of humanities crises’.
The conference will be held from January 28 to 30 at the grand ball room of Pan Pacific Sonargaon hotel. Speaker said, around 1 lakh peoples are being affected by cholera. However, icddr,b has identified some high risk zones. Of these, at least 12 lakh people will be given cholera vaccines initially in Dhaka city’s six zones including Adabor, Darussalam, Lalbag, Mohammadpur, Keraniganj and Hazaribag area.
Each people from the age of 1 year, will get two vaccines dozes, which will prevent them from cholera diseases for next three years. The vaccine programme may start February, 15 and it will end 6 days later.
The ASCODD focuses on the latest developments in vaccine development and issues in enteric infections, nutrition, policy and practice. It includes four symposia on subjects of global interest- Typhoid conjugate vaccine, prospect for use in Asia and Africa, ending Cholera 2030: initiatives and challenges, environmental enteropathy, gut microbiota; childhood malnutrition and Antimicrobial resistance and its impact on treatment of enteric infections.
“As we gather together for the 15th ASCODD, we aim to learn, share, discuss and evaluate our research, our innovation and our strategies to combat these global public health challenges faced by million of people,” said Professor John D Clemens, Exicutive director at iccdr,b. icddr,b senior scientist and President of ASCODD, Dr Firdausi Qadri said, “Over the three days meeting, 81 oral and 113 poster presentations will be made.
Around 450 researchers, health care professionals, vaccinologists, nutrition experts, policymakers and programme persons from 18 countries will have the opportunity to share their knowledge and expertise.” Speaking on the occasion, Professor Dr Sanya Tahmina, Additional Director General (Planning and Development) and Line Director (CDC), DGHS, Bangladesh said, “I believe through this conference we will be able to know how to better manage water borne diseases. Now our main priority is ending cholera by 2030 and the conference will definitely help us in this regard.”
On behalf of the international scientist participating at the conference Professor Edward T. Ryan Harvard Medical School, USA said, “Through this conference Bangladesh plays a critical role in generating and disseminating knowledge to identify, control and develop new effective preventive measures against infectious diseases. We are very honoured to join this conference.”
Professor Dr Meerjady Sabrina Flora, Director of IEDCR, Syed Monjurul Islam, Deputy Executive Director of icddr,b, Professor Allen Ross, Senior Director of Infectious Disease Division, icddr,b also spoke on the occasion. The ASCODD is being organised by icddr,b and supported by the Bangladesh government, the world health organisation, the Swedish international development cooperation agency and the Bill & Melina Gates Foundation.
Diarrhoeal diseases are still the third leading cause of child mortality globally. In 2017, about 1.6 million people died from diarrhoeal diseases. In South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa most deaths from diarrhea occur among children less than 2 years of age.
