A vaccination campaign against the epidemic of Japanese Encephalitis is set to be launched from this month with a view to preventing the spread of the disease in districts of western Terai region in southern part of the country, Nepali District Public Health Office said here on Monday.

Usually, the disease breaks out in the region with the onset of monsoon season during June-September.

According to the office, in the first phase of the campaign, children below one year of age as well as all people in the district except for pregnant women in the four most affected of the 24 districts will be vaccinated while children in the age group of 1-14 in two districts will be vaccinated.

Likewise, the second phase of campaign will be initiated in 18 districts during which children in the age group of 1-14 will be vaccinated, the office said in a statement.

As many as 725,999 people have been targeted for vaccination program, the statement said.

Meanwhile, 1,229 vaccination centers will be set up in Terai region for which 276 vaccination workers and 3,700 volunteers will be mobilized, according to the office.

According to statistics released by the office, almost 3,400 people in Kailali district in far-western Nepal, some 700 km west of Kathmandu, were affected by the disease in the span of 8 years. Out of this figure, who visited the hospital, 429 people have died of disease.

Source: Xinhua