UNICEF Aids North Korea in Vaccinating 800,000 Children
North Korea has begun a nationwide vaccination campaign for children and pregnant women, aided by UNICEF. This initiative aims to address a significant vaccine backlog caused by the COVID-19 pandemic ().
The campaign aims to inoculate over 8,00,000 children and 1,20,000 pregnant women with life-saving vaccines, including those for diphtheria, measles, rubella, and hepatitis, UNICEF said in a release, reported Yonhap news agency.
‘#UNICEF reports a major drop in #immunization rates in #NorthKorea due to COVID-19. The country is now working to catch up on essential #vaccines. #vaccination #covid ’
UNICEF Marks Major Milestone in Efforts to Vaccinate Every Child
"This campaign is a major milestone in our efforts to vaccinate every child in the DPRK and protect them from common childhood diseases," said Roland Kupka, UNICEF's acting representative for the country. DPRK stands for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.The rates -- which had exceeded 96 percent before the pandemic -- dropped to below 42 percent by mid-2021, leaving countless children at risk of deadly diseases.
In July, over four million doses of essential vaccines were delivered to North Korea to commence the vaccination program, UNICEF said.
Of them, two million doses will be used in the current catch-up vaccination campaign, while the remainder will be distributed to health centres nationwide to support routine immunisation efforts.
Between 2021 and 2023, UNICEF supported three previous catch-up vaccination campaigns in North Korea, reaching nearly 1.3 million children who had missed key vaccinations during the peak of the pandemic, the agency said.
Reference:
- Nearly one million children and pregnant women in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea to receive life-saving routine vaccines - (https:www.unicef.org/press-releases/nearly-one-million-children-and-pregnant-women-democratic-peoples-republic-korea)
Source: IANS