Bajura, March 29

A resident of Bajura’s Himali Rural Municipality-3, Gumba, Laxmi Kunwar’s daughter is one year old. But the child has not been vaccinated even once.

Upon being asked, Kunwar said she couldn’t vaccinate her child as she had to leave her place twice a year to avoid harsh weather. While her family moves towards the north during monsoon season, in the winter they descend to lower areas to avoid the numbing cold.

Likewise, Kamala Karki of the same village has yet to return from Achham, where she had gone to avoid winter in her village located at a high altitude. She has an 11-month-old baby. “I haven’t vaccinated the child,” she said

It is important to note that women and their kids in the northern belt of Bajura and Humla are thus being deprived of vaccination.

“On the one hand, there is lack of awareness of the advantages of vaccination, on the other, having access to a health facility for vaccination is simply out of question when they live in tents in the forests by leaving their village,” said senior Assistant Health Worker Dipak Shah of Bajura’s Tante Health Post.

Bajura was declared fully immunised district in the current fiscal. On his part, Bajura District Public Health Officer Ramesh Kunwar said he would see what he could do for the community that has been deprived of vaccination. Kids below the age of one year are given six vaccines which save them from 10 common diseases.