New York: 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.
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. (PTI)
