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Sources and References Policy

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Every guide on Surokkha Guide is built on sources that readers can check for themselves. Vaccination, certificates and health records are topics where a wrong detail can cost someone a missed flight, a delayed job abroad or an unnecessary trip to a health office. This page explains which sources we trust, in what order, how we cite them, and what we do when sources disagree or change.

This policy works together with our editorial policy, our fact-checking policy and our description of how we review and update guides.

Our source hierarchy

Not all sources carry the same weight. When we research a guide, we work down the following list and give priority to the higher levels. A lower-level source is never used to override a higher-level one on a question of process or eligibility.

Level 1: The official Surokkha portal and DGHS

For anything about how vaccine registration, certificate download, certificate verification or corrections work in Bangladesh, the primary source is the official portal itself, surokkha.gov.bd, together with notices and guidance published by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) at dghs.gov.bd. These are the bodies that actually run the processes we describe. If our guide and the official portal ever say different things, the official portal is right and our guide needs updating.

Level 2: WHO and UNICEF

For general information about vaccines, immunization schedules, vaccine safety and public-health context, we rely on the World Health Organization and UNICEF. WHO publishes fact sheets, position papers and summary tables of recommended routine immunization. UNICEF publishes material on childhood immunization and works closely with national programmes, including in Bangladesh. These sources are international and are not specific to the Surokkha platform, so we use them for background rather than for step-by-step instructions.

Level 3: CDC travel health and other national public-health agencies

For travel-related vaccine information, such as which vaccines travellers to or from Bangladesh commonly discuss with a doctor, we may cite the travel health pages of the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and comparable agencies in other countries. These agencies write for their own populations, so we make that clear when we cite them and we never present their advice as a rule that applies in Bangladesh.

Level 4: Peer-reviewed literature

Occasionally we refer to peer-reviewed research, for example on vaccine safety or on digital health certificates. We prefer systematic reviews and large, well-designed studies over single small studies, and we describe findings cautiously. Research is used to explain context, never to contradict official guidance on what a reader should do.

What we never use as a source

  • Social media posts, forwarded messages and rumours, however widely shared.
  • Anonymous forums and comment threads.
  • Websites or agents that sell "certificate services", "fast corrections" or similar help for a fee.
  • Pages that imitate government services or copy the look of official portals.
  • Other unofficial guides, including those that appear high in search results, unless we can confirm the information independently at Level 1 or Level 2.

Reader emails can point us to a problem, and we welcome them, but a reader report is a prompt to check the primary source, not a source in itself.

How we cite

Every cornerstone guide ends with a Sources section. It lists the pages we relied on, with a short label so you can see who published each one. We link to the most specific primary page we can find rather than to a news story about it. Where a process is described in general terms because the details change often, we say so in the text and point you to the official portal instead of quoting exact steps that may be out of date.

Each guide also shows a "Last reviewed" date. That date tells you when we last compared the guide against its sources. It is not a promise that nothing has changed since, which is why we repeatedly remind readers to confirm current steps on the official portal.

External links open in a new tab and use rel="noopener" for security. Links to the official Surokkha portal additionally use rel="nofollow". This is a technical choice for search engines; it does not mean we doubt the portal. On the contrary, the official portal is the only place where registration and certificate actions should be carried out. We do not accept payment for links, and we have no affiliate links, as explained in our affiliate disclosure.

When sources disagree or change

Sources sometimes conflict. An older DGHS notice may describe a process differently from the current portal, or an international body may recommend a schedule that differs from the national programme. When that happens we follow three rules:

  • Newest official source wins for processes in Bangladesh, and we note that earlier guidance existed if readers are likely to have seen it.
  • National programme wins for what is actually offered in Bangladesh; international guidance is presented as background.
  • Uncertainty is stated openly. If we cannot confirm a detail, we say that it is unclear and tell readers where to check, rather than guessing.

When an official process changes, we update the affected guides, change the "Last reviewed" date and, where the change is significant, add a short note explaining what changed. Corrections are handled as described in our fact-checking policy.

Main sources we rely on

Who applies this policy

Our lead writer, Nusrat Jahan, is responsible for sourcing each guide. Every guide is then fact-checked by our health content editor, Arif Hossain, who confirms that each statement is supported by the cited sources and phrased with appropriate caution. This is an editorial check on accuracy and tone. It is not a medical review, and our guides are not reviewed by a medical professional; nothing here is personal medical advice, as our disclaimer explains.

Suggest a source or report a problem

If you think we have cited an outdated page, missed an important official notice, or described a source inaccurately, please email hello@surokkha.app with the page address and the source you are referring to. Please do not include your NID, birth registration number, phone number or any certificate in your email. We only need the link to the public source.