Rome (Fides Service) - More than one million health workers and volunteers will be engaged in the most ambitious anti-polio vaccination campaign ever organised to protect 80 million children in 23 African countries from catching this serious disease. The campaign is part of a Global Polio Eradication Initiative. The campaigners will move from village to village and home to home with every means available, car, boat, bicycle and even on foot carrying a total of 100 million doses in refrigerated canisters to vaccinate all children under 5.
A second stage of the campaign will start on 18 November to continue all through 2005. Sub-Saharan countries except for Nigeria and Niger were said to be polio free, but in the past 18 month new cases of polio have been reported in 12 countries where the disease had been eradicated.
Countries facing epidemics of polio today include Nigeria, India, Pakistan, Niger, Afghanistan and Egypt. In 1998, 125 countries were affected by the disease. Today only six countries are affected and a total of 786 cases have been registered: 597 in Nigeria, 62 in India, 31 in Pakistan, 20 in Niger, 3 in Afghanistan 1 in Egypt.
Countries where polio has been recently “imported” include Benin 6 cases, Botswana 1 case, Burkina Faso 6 cases, Cameroon 2 cases, Central African Republic 12 cases, Chad 16 cases, Ivory Coast 15 cases, Guinea 1 case, Mali 2 cases and Sudan 11 cases.
The campaign will cover the following countries Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Ivory Coast, Democratic Congo, Guinea, Equatorial Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Nigeria, Niger, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo and Sudan. (AP) (9/10/2004 Agenzia Fides; Righe:26; Parole:323)