Lack of funds to hit JE campaign
Kathmandu, February 24:
The campaign against Japanese encephalitis (JE) is going to be affected this year due to lack of funds. The UN agencies have now backed off, as the vaccines to be brought in the country have not received goods manufacturing practice (GMP) certification by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Requesting anonymity, an official at the Department of Health Services (DoHS) said: “This year the JE vaccination campaign will be affected, as the UN agencies have already informed their inability to support in buying the vaccines without GMP certification.
The official said that the Chengdu Institute of Biological Products of China that is the sole company to supply JE vaccines to the country has not provided manufacturing details to the WHO.
“This will affect our campaign against Japanese encephalitis badly,” said the official. The procurement needs at least four months. This year the campaign will be concentrated on two hyper-endemic districts namely Morang and Sunsari.
Hence, the Health Ministry asked for Rs 12 crore from the Finance Ministry a week ago to buy the vaccines, but there has been no improvement on this front yet.
Dr Shyam Raj Upreti, chief of the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI), accepted that there had been a problem in the procurement of vaccines, but they “are trying their best to get the vaccines”.
“This year some areas will be covered by the stock vaccines, while for the massive campaign there is still a need of Rs 12 crore,” said Dr Upreti.
If the government does not provide the proposed fund, EPI is planning limit the number of districts from 18 to 6.
The campaign was affected last year also due to delay in procurement process. However, the damage was controlled as the disease broke out late. The right time to start the campaign is March and April.
“The government has planned to include JE in routine immunisation programme in the Valley from this year,” said Dr Yasovardan Pradhan, director at the Child Health Division.
Last year, 1264 JE cases were reported with 88 deaths. Every year around 3,000 people are affected by Japanese encephalitis.