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Polio immunisation campaign kicks off in Mogadishu |
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 NAIROBI, 23 Sep 2005 (IRIN) - Following the identification of two polio
cases in Somalia, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN
Children’s Fund (UNICEF) began a three-day emergency polio immunisation
campaign on Thursday in the capital, Mogadishu, officials said.
The
two cases, in the country's southern Benadir Region, in which Mogadishu
is located, were the first to be identified in Somalia since October
2002. They were detected by WHO's national polio surveillance system,
WHO and UNICEF said in a joint statement.
"The rapid implementation of high quality immunisation activities will
limit the spread of the polio virus," Dr. Ibrahim Betelmal, the WHO
representative for Somalia, said in the statement.
WHO and
UNICEF said in order to reach the children, they were working with all
available partners; including local NGOs and community-based
organizations, religious leaders, women’s groups, youth groups,
doctors, traditional healers and others to help raise awareness and
support control and prevention efforts. It added that a scientific
assessment of the situation had also begun.
"The campaign will
continue until 24 September and vaccinators are conducting door-to-door
immunisation targeting children aged five years and under. We hope to
reach about 268,000 children," Christian Balslev-Olesen, the UNICEF
representative for Somalia, said.
The September campaign follows
nationwide polio immunisation efforts in February, March, June, July
and August to protect the country's children from lifelong paralysis
caused by the disease. The June campaign followed a WHO warning that
Somalia could become reinfected with polio from nearby Ethiopia and
Yemen.
Afghanistan, Egypt, India, Niger, Nigeria and Pakistan
remain polio-endemic, and the virus has continued to spread to
previously polio-free countries. In total, 10 previously polio-free
countries - Angola, Cameroon, Chad, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Mali,
Somalia, Sudan and Yemen - had been reinfected in late 2004 and 2005.
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