Grameenphone Ltd. has partnered again with the Bangladesh government in the government's efforts to eradicate the re-emergence of polio in Bangladesh through National Immunization Day (NID) awareness building campaign.

The NID has been organized to immunize 24 million children in Bangladesh under the age of five. The 19th National Immunization Day took place on January 8, 2011.

Under the campaign, Grameenphone published press advertisement, send SMS reminder and arranged RJ endorsement to create awareness among the parents and urging them to take their children to nearest vaccination centers.

On the Immunization Day Grameenphone deploy two mobile vaccination centers for Bashundhara, Mirpur and adjacent areas. The initiative received huge response from the general people in those areas. Additionally, children were given high potency Vitamin-A capsule.

Grameenphone was a proud partner of the mass awareness campaign during the 16th, 17th and 18th NIDs in 2007, 2008 and 2010 to raise awareness on immunization and help the Government of Bangladesh to eradicate polio from the country. As a continuation of that endeavor, Grameenphone has taken part in mass awareness campaign in 2011 with Government of Bangladesh, UNICEF and WHO.

National Immunization Days (NIDs) are aimed at the complete eradication of the poliovirus and paralytic polio. Spearheaded by World Health Organization (WHO), the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) works closely with governments around the world to reduce the incidence of polio.

Almost one-third of Bangladeshi children still do not receive the seven essential vaccines required for immunization within their first year of life under the routine Expanded Program of Immunization. It is believed that there is little hope of eliminating polio while a large group of children remain unvaccinated. The challenge for the program is to 'reach the un-reached' so a mass awareness campaign, targeting the parents of under-five children, is initiated each year.