The division will vaccinate children below 15 years of age in four districts – Rautahat, Bara, Udayapur and Saptari. The government has identified 24 districts as JE-prone areas.
According to records from the division, 1,863 cases of JE were recorded between the first weeks of January and December this year. Of them, 52 died. The Ministry carried out a mass JE vaccination campaign in 2005.
According to Dr Shyam Raj Upreti, chief of the division, 10 percent of those suffering JE die in the country. He said one third of JE patients recover from the disease, while the same portion develop several forms of physical and mental disabilities.
The division vaccinated about 95 percent of children aged below 15 years in Lalitpur and Bhaktapur around six months ago. The disease initially recorded to be found only in Nepal’s plains, was later diagnosed inside the Valley in the past three years.
Meanwhile, the division has also said it would carry out two rounds of National Immunization Day – Polio, between February and March next year. “We will carry out the polio campaign in 68 districts,” Dr Upreti said. “But it will not be possible to conduct the campaign in seven mountain districts due to cold season.”
Nepal stopped its polio campaign in 2004 after no new cases were reported. However, it resumed the campaign in 2005 after two cases were recorded. “Though we have almost combated the disease, we will have to continue the campaign till India curbs the disease in Utter Pradesh and Bihar, which still records high number of polio cases,” he said.
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