IVI, SmileGate, partners team up to vaccinate 28,000 people in Nepal
A child receives oral cholera vaccine (OCV) during a vaccination campaign in Rupani, Nepal.
Children in line to receive oral cholera vaccine (OCV) at a vaccination site in Rupani rural municipality in Nepal on May 1, 2022. The vaccination campaign is part of an IVI-led project to prevent and control cholera in the area, where 28,000 people have
The project will vaccinate about 28,000 individuals including children in Rupani Rural Municipality in the southeastern region of Nepal to help prevent and control outbreaks of cholera and diarrheal diseases there. Diarrheal cases were detected in the municipality in late October 2021. On top of the COVID-19 pandemic, this outbreak of cholera and diarrheal diseases has further strained the local public health delivery mechanism in the area.
IVI will work with the Epidemiology and Disease Control Division (EDCD), Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP), Nepal, to execute the vaccination campaign, in coordination with Child Health and Immunization section in the Family and Welfare Division (FWD) as well as other local partners, including Group of Technical Assistance (GTA). IVI and partners will provide the first dose of oral cholera vaccine (OCV), and the second dose of the vaccine will be self-administered by the vaccinees, an effort designed to assess the feasibility of self-administration strategy for the 2nd dose of oral cholera vaccine.
Dr. Jacqueline Lim, IVI research scientist leading the project, said “Cholera is an important public health problem in Nepal, and most cases are reported during the rainy season (June-October). We aim to complete vaccination by June, prior to the rainy season to give the residents much-needed protection and mitigate the risk of future outbreaks in the Rupani municipality, in collaboration with EDCD and local health authorities and partners.”
The mass vaccination campaign will use Euvichol-Plus, the OCV developed by IVI and produced by the Korean vaccine manufacturer EuBiologics. The vaccine, which was prequalified by the WHO in 2017, has been proven to be safe and effective and is widely used in cholera control efforts worldwide. More than 60 million doses of the Euvichol and Euvichol Plus vaccines have already been administered in over 20 countries worldwide through the WHO’s OCV stockpile.
IVI Director General Dr. Jerome Kim said, “Cholera remains a serious infectious disease in certain developing countries. IVI will continue to work with partners including SmileGate, to vaccinate people at risk of cholera in countries in need and to develop measures and strategies to reduce the impact of this deadly disease.”
The project is funded by SmileGate, a global mobile gaming company, which raised fund from gamers of its mobile roleplaying game EPIC Seven through an online campaign last year.
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About the International Vaccine Institute
The International Vaccine Institute (IVI) is a nonprofit inter-governmental organization established in 1997 at the initiative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Headquartered in Seoul, South Korea, IVI was the first international organization hosted by Korea. IVI has 39 countries and the World Health Organization (WHO) on its treaty, including Korea, Sweden, India, and Finland as state funders.
Our mandate is to make vaccines available and accessible for the world’s most vulnerable people. We focus on infectious diseases of global health importance such as cholera, typhoid, shigella, salmonella, schistosomiasis, Group A Strep, Hepatitis A, HPV, TB, HIV, MERS, COVID-19, as well as antimicrobial resistance. For more information, please visit https://www.ivi.int
Aerie Em
International Vaccine Institute
+82 2-881-1386
aerie.em@ivi.int
