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By Chioma Umeha
More than 190 000 polio vaccinators in 13
countries across west and central Africa will immunise more than 116 million
children over the next week, to tackle the last remaining stronghold of polio
on the continent.
The synchronized vaccination campaign, one of the
largest of its kind ever implemented in Africa, is part of urgent measures to
permanently stop polio on the continent.
All children under five years of age in the 13
countries – Benin, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire,
Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria
and Sierra Leone – will be simultaneously immunised in a coordinated effort to
raise childhood immunity to polio across the continent.
In August 2016, four children were paralysed by
the disease in security-compromised areas in Borno state, north-eastern
Nigeria, widely considered to be the only place on the continent where the
virus maintains its grip.
“Twenty years ago, Nelson Mandela launched the
pan-African ‘Kick Polio Out of Africa’ campaign,” said Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO
Regional Director for Africa.
“At that time, every single country on the
continent was endemic to polio, and every year, more than 75 000 children were
paralysed for life by this terrible disease. Thanks to the dedication of
governments, communities, parents and health workers, this disease is now
beaten back to this final reservoir.”
Dr Moeti cautioned, however, that progress was
fragile, given the epidemic-prone nature of the virus. Although confined to a
comparatively small region of the continent, experts warned that the virus
could easily spread to under-protected areas of neighbouring countries. That is
why regional public health ministers from five Lake Chad Basin countries
-Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Niger and Nigeria – declared the
outbreak a regional public health emergency and have committed to multiple
synchronized immunisation campaigns.
