The CHD, which is responsible for immunizing children across the country, conceded that a lot of children in the Somdiha VDC, where the disease broke out, had been deprived of customary vaccines for a long time.Somdiha, which lies along the border with India, has poor access to health services compared to other parts of the district.
Four children aged below five years have died and several others have been infected by the virus in the VDC. The CHD had sent a fact finding team to the village to ascertain the real cause of measles outbreak.
"Continuous gap in immunization, including the administration of measles vaccine, is the main cause of the outbreak," Dr Rajendra Panta, director at the CHD, said.
He informed that the fact finding team has yet to be submit a detailed report to the CHD. "They have just presented a preliminary report, which clearly indicates that the children in the area have been deprived of regular vaccines," he added.
The National Demographic Health Survey-2011 shows that 87 percent of children under the age of five across the country get fully immunized. Of the remaining 13 percent, 10 percent do not get all the vaccines that are in the regular immunization list and about three percent do not get even a single dose of the vaccines.
"The 13 percent of children who miss one or the other vaccines or are completely left out are vulnerable to the disease," said Dr Panta, adding that the disease can also spread from the vulnerable group.
The CHD has asked District Public Health Office (DPHO), Kapilvastu and other DPHOs in the region to organize additional vaccination drive to prevent further spread of the virus.
"We have tasked the DPHO, Kapilvastu and others to take additional measures to prevent the outbreak," Mukunda Gautam, chief of the Immunization Section at the CHD, informed. Gautam was part of the fact finding team appointed by the CHD.
"The people of the affected villages don't seem to be aware of the importance of immunization," he said. "Some women told us that they forget the immunization date, while others said that they did not find health workers on the scheduled immunization day.
He said that health workers might have avoided the affected villages in view of the security risks amid the turmoil in Tarai.
The CHD plans to launch a nationwide measles-rubella campaign, including in the affected district in mid-February.
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