Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

top

Kenya

WHO technical team meets to assess anti-polio campaign

A polio outbreak in Somalia last year resulted into the paralysis of several children in the Horn of Africa nation, a situation the global health agency wants to bring under control/FILE

NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 27 – World Health Organization’s Polio Technical Advisory Group (TAG) is this week meeting in Nairobi to evaluate progress made in ending outbreaks of polio-virus in Kenya and Somalia.

In a three-day conference beginning on Tuesday, the 18th TAG will also review Uganda, Tanzania, Djibouti, South Sudan, Yemen, and Sudan to establish the readiness of respective countries to tackle a polio outbreak.

A polio outbreak in Somalia last year resulted into the paralysis of several children in the Horn of Africa nation, a situation the global health agency wants to bring under control.

Some parts of Kenya have also been reported to be in danger after a vaccine-derived polio virus was traced in a sewage water sample in April last year.

The virus found in Eastleigh was linked to polio-virus samples tested in Mogadishu in October-November last year, and January this year.

“The emergence of the vaccine-derived polio virus in southern Somalia in 2017 and in the informal settlements of Nairobi in Eastleigh in 2018 is a confirmation that the polio threat is real and the virus continues to circulate undetected in the sub-region”, WHO Representative Dr Rudi Eggers stated.

The Ministry of Health is currently undertaking a polio campaign covering 12 high risk counties targeting 2.8 million children aged 5 years and below.

In Nairobi alone, 800,000 children have been targeted in a previous vaccination campaign in July.

2.5 million children were vaccinated during the campaign  in twelve counties.

Following the discovery of the polio-virus at in Eastleigh, the government upscaled vigilance to deter an outbreak of polio boarder surveillance and an elaborate immunization programme targeting Nairobi though a Rapid Results Initiative that lasted 100 days.

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.

Kenya also participated in a synchronized polio campaign with Ethiopia, South Sudan, and Somalia, in September.

While lobbying for the joint effort, Eggers said a united approach was critical to suppressing polio.

“It also emphasizes the importance of population movements between the countries and the need to address polio eradication activities as a sub-region, not only in a single country like Kenya,” the regional WHO chief said.

Eggers noted progress made in fighting cholera with the number of children paralyzed as a result of cholera declining from 350,000 annually in 1988 to only 22 in 2017.

“Only 1 per cent is left to totally eradicate the disease and we can do this by vaccinating children with the two drops of the vaccine,” he said.

About The Author

Comments
Advertisement

More on Capital News