Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been conferred with the prestigious 'Vaccine Hero' award in recognition of the country's outstanding success in vaccination, especially for her role in eliminating polio, cholera and various communicable diseases.
Hasina was conferred with the award at a ceremony at the UN Headquarters in New York on Monday on the sidelines of the 74th session of the UN General Assembly, the Geneva-based global vaccine alliance GAVI said in a statement.
Receiving the award from Global Alliance for Vaccination and Immunisations (GAVI) Board Chair Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the prime minister dedicated it to the people of Bangladesh, it said.
"The award that I received today (Monday) is not of mine, the award belongs to the people of Bangladesh and I dedicated this award to them," she said.
The prime minister simultaneously urged the countrymen to continue immunisation programme which will keep their children healthy.
"The healthy children will run the country and take the country forward a healthy generation is very much necessary for economic development," she added.
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Hasina said the country was freed from polio, cholera and various communicable diseases. "And we got cooperation from the GAVI," she said.
Before handing over the award, a citation was read out by Okonjo-Iweala.
The citation said the 'Vaccine Hero' award has been introduced by the GAVI to recognise global figures whose dedication to the Vaccine Alliance's mission has played a key role in helping GAVI and its partners to protect hundreds of millions of children across the globe.
It said this is an award for those who have set out a clear ambition and displayed urgency in providing life saving vaccines to children and ensuring that no child is left out.
Hasina is a true champion of immunisation as well as rights of the children and the women empowerment, the citation reads.
Earlier in her speech, Hasina hoped to reach the target of 'vaccines for all' in the country well ahead of 2030.
"We're committed to immunising under universal health coverage with support from international community," she said.
She recalled that Bangladesh was also honoured with GAVI Alliance Awards in 2009 and 2012 for its outstanding performance in improving the child immunization status.
Referring to influx of the forcibly displaced Rohingyas in Cox's Bazar, the prime minister said the sudden exodus of 1.1 million Rohingyas from Rakhine State is a formidable challenge to Bangladesh's health sector.
She said extraordinary measures were taken to raise immunity of the Rohingyas through vaccination campaign and routine immunisation although they did not have access to any proper health services in Myanmar.
Dedicated vaccine centres, and over 18,000 community clinics and union health centres are providing vaccination services across Bangladesh, bdnews24 reported.