Editorial
Bangladeshi doctor rewarded
Rural mothers' and children's access to service increased
We are heartened at the news that Bangladesh national Dr ASM Amjad Hossain has won the first Gates Vaccine Innovation Award.
The award recognizes the work of Dr. Hossain, a former district immunization and surveillance medical officer in Brahmanbraia and Habiganj districts, whose implementation of an innovative approach to routine immunization provided thousands of children with access to life-saving vaccines. An increased accessibility of the service has also helped expand the coverage rate of the immunisation programme.
Though his approach may not look radical, yet it has shown how a small change in the service delivery mechanism can make a big difference in extending a programme's reach and availability to those who need it most.
What Dr. Hossain actually did was to implement annual vaccination schedules for communities and introduce some simple steps like adding vaccinators' phone numbers in the children's immunisation cards. These have gone a long way in increasing the accountability of the vaccination programme as well as provided the parents with easy access to the health workers.
The remote rural communities and the vulnerable children and would-be mothers can now be tracked, located and registered by vaccinators more easily than before through this improved system.
By recognising and awarding Dr. Hossain for his contribution to immunisation programme, the Bill and Melinda gates foundation has in fact recognised the need for faster and better immunisation service for the most vulnerable sections of the rural communities of Bangladesh. It also shows the Foundation's concern for the suffering mothers and children of Bangladesh.
We extend our thanks to the Gates Foundation for this.
We further hope that Dr. Hossain's achievement will inspire others to come up with such innovation in the service of suffering humanity in Bangladesh as elsewhere.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.
Comments