Polio vaccination campaign starts on Thursday

Canditar Chapanduka, Chronicle Reporter

BULAWAYO will join the National Oral Polio Vaccination campaign that will start on Thursday at a time when the country has gone for 23 years without recording new cases of the viral disease.

This comes as Zimbabwe joined the rest of the world in commemorating World Polio Day yesterday.
The day is marked on October 24 every year.

The National Oral Polio Vaccination campaign in Bulawayo is being led by the Ministry of Health and Child Care.

Bulawayo’s director of health services, Dr Edwin Sibanda said the exercise will be undertaken citywide.
“Bring all children that are below five years of age for vaccinations,” said Dr Sibanda.

“The last case of polio in the country was recorded in Mangwe district in 1999 and since the country was certified free in 2005 there are no polio cases till today.”

The vaccination exercise in Zimbabwe comes at a time when Malawi and Mozambique have recorded some cases.

The neighboring countries have stepped up surveillance to detect cases while preparing for vaccination campaigns recommended by the WHO.

A WHO report says a polio virus outbreak in Malawi in February necessitated Zimbabwe to conduct a detailed polio risk analysis.

The risk analysis identified sub-national surveillance and routine immunisation gaps that put the country at high risks of polio virus importation. – @NomqheleC