Campaign to eradicate polio suffers setback

The largest ever polio vaccination programme in Ethiopia designed to bring about full eradication of the disease suffered a setback on Thursday after five suspected cases of the disease were discovered. The suspected cases were all found in children under five years of age living in the Somali region of the country. “If this is polio then that is a severe setback,” Afewerk Ayele, from the United Nations Children's Fund UNICEF told IRIN. “It would be bad for our programme and for the country. It is extremely unfortunate timing because of the campaign.” UNICEF in conjunction with the World Health Organisation is hoping to have vaccinated as many as 14 million children by the end of the year as part of a massive inoculation programme. Some of the remotest parts of the country have been targeted with teams travelling on foot by mule and some in helicopters. In the last three years Ethiopia has seen only five cases of polio. The virus, which attacks children, leaves victims paralysed for life. Dr Almaz Senbet, from the Ministry of Health, confirmed the new cases but said all the children had been brought to the immunization centres too late to test for polio. “They have the symptoms but they have had them for more than two months so you cannot detect the virus because it only survives for two months. “Even so we think it is polio so we will be targeting the areas these children come from. The polio campaign tends to bring these people to the immunization centres and then you discover that they may have it. The difficulty is that many families do not take their children to health centres but first try local witch doctors to help cure them. The delay can make it very difficult for us to identify the real cause,” added Dr Almaz, an expert on polio. The Health Bureau of the Somali Regional State discovered the children at the weekend after they were taken to a health centre. Bureau Head, Dr. Ahmed Mohamed confirmed the suspected cases with the Ministry of Health in Addis Ababa but because of the delay no tests could be carried out. The suspected cases were detected in Shinile, Jijiga and Kebri Dehar Zones. Although polio paralysis is the most visible sign of polio infection, less than 1 percent of polio infections ever result in paralysis. Almost 800,000 children will have been vaccinated by the time the programme is complete in the region. Ethiopia was the second to last country to eradicate smallpox. Progress in polio eradication in Ethiopia is vital because of its large population and difficult terrain. In 1992 less than 10 per cent had been vaccinated against the virus. After a huge campaign during the 1990s that figure now stands at around 80 per cent. The WHO has pledged to eradicate the poliovirus within four years.