With the success of a pilot program organized in Bhaktapur and Lalitpur, the Child Health Division (CHD) under the Ministy of Health and Population (MoHP) is working to introduce the vaccine for children in Kathmandu also. [break]
Seventy-seven thousand school children in Lalitpur and 66,000 in Bhaktapur under 15 years received the vaccine in the pilot program. However, the results of the program are yet to come out.
Typhoid, a water-borne disease, mostly affects children under 15. According to CHD, the incidence of the disease in the Valley is among the highest in the world. A survey conducted by the National Public Health Laboratory (NPHL) in 2011 shows that about 47percent of children under 15 who had fever were infected with typhoid.
CHD said that as it is not possible to improve water and sanitation in the capital immediately, the best option is vaccination. Due to the massive migration into the capital from across the country and problems of unhygienic food and water, typhoid prevalence here is high.
The typhoid vaccine costs about Rs 30 and does not have any adverse effect. The vaccine works for three years.
Dr Shyam Raj Upreti, chief of CHD, said that the government is not introducing the vaccine on a trial basis as it has been used in other countries for years. He said the government should include typhoid vaccine in the national immunization program.
About 21 million people across the globe are affected by the disease and, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), 90 percent of cases occur in Asia.
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