African anti-polio campaign targets 72million
By Dennis Otim
1st Nov 2010
Nearly 300,000 health workers have begun combing through Africa with a view to reach and immunise 72million children against polio. The Africa-wide immunisation drive is part of a United Nations-backed bid to drive polio out of the continent.
Through it, vaccinators will go door-to-door in 15 countries to deliver two drops of oral polio vaccine to every child under the age of five. The immunisation drive will initially target areas considered to have the highest risk of polio.
Polio is a highly infectious and sometimes fatal disease that spreads from person to person. The virus could infect virtually everyone who is not yet immune through vaccination and there is as yet no cure for it.
African leaders have demonstrated unprecedented cooperation and commitment to carry out synchronized immunization activities following the spread of polio from Nigeria to 24 countries in West and Central Africa as well as in the Horn of Africa.
Thanks to these interventions, outbreaks of the virus have slowed to a trickle with only Liberia and Mali recording any cases in the past five months. Nigeria, the only country on the continent never to have stopped polio transmission, has slashed the virus by 98 per cent in the past year.
The eradication of polio in Africa as a whole is however an ongoing fight. For example, residual transmissions have been reported in Liberia and Mali recently. Uganda, a country which had been polio-free for more than one year also reported one case recently.
The anti-polio drive kicked off in Côte d’Ivoire on 26th Oct with similar campaigns scheduled to be launched in Benin, Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gambia, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Senegal and Sierra Leone.
Luis G. Sambo, the African Regional Director for the UN World Health Organization said, “…in Africa, we are seeing the essential government support that can make the difference between success and failure. But much more remains to be done to fill the gaps if we are to protect the stunning gains made this year”.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the United States Centre for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], the US Agency for International Development [USAID], Rotary International, the Governments of Japan and Germany, and the UN Children’s Fund are funding the $43 million synchronized immunisation activities. END. Please log into www.ugandacorrespondent.com every Monday to read our top stories and anytime mid-week for our news updates.
