ASIA/MYANMAR - Mass vaccination to prevent the re-emergence of the polio virus that has paralysed 33,000 children

Yangon (Agenzia Fides) – Three years after the last epidemic, polio has reappeared in Myanmar. Following a confirmed case in December and two others with as yet undefined origins in January, the Ministry of Health has launched a mass vaccination campaign aimed at millions of children under five years of age. More than 10,000 children have been vaccinated in different areas around the Country. The aim of the national campaign is 3.34 million children in 109 of the 325 municipalities in the Country. From 1997 to 2007, in nine countries with a low coverage of immunization, 200 cases of infection have been recorded. During the same period, 33,000 children were paralysed by the polio virus. The pandemic appeared for the first time in the Mandalay Division of central Myanmar, in 2006. The following year, four other cases were confirmed in Yangon Division, in Mon and in Kayin State, on the border with Thailand as well as in Bago Division. (AP) (19/2/2011 Agenzia Fides)