Second round of polio vaccinations ends

A four-day effort to vaccinate 627,720 children aged 59 months and under against polio ended in eight Burundi provinces on Friday, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) reported. The campaign - the second round - was a joint effort to prevent the virus recently identified in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) from spreading across the border. Six Burundi provinces border on the DRC, these being Bururi, Bubanza, Bujumbura, Bujumbura Rural, Cibitoke, and Makamba. The provinces of Kayanza and Gitega, included in the vaccination effort, are not near the DRC. "Polio affects the nervous system and one case in 200 leads to paralysis and has no cure," a WHO official said. "In 2001, 29,504 Acute Flacid Paralysis cases were reported world-wide from a few countries. As long as not all children are vaccinated and we succeed to eradicate polio totally, the children infected by the virus will continue to infect others." The Ministry of Health with the support of the UNICEF, the WHO, local authorities and NGOs conducted this second round of vaccinations. UNICEF said that polio vaccination has been successful in Burundi and no case of polio was identified in 2001. Measles vaccinations were administered countrywide during the first round of polio vaccinations in eight provinces conducted 17-28 June. UNICEF said at least 90 percent of the three million children aged between nine months and 14 years targeted had been immunised. Polio coverage during round one was 99 percent and implemented by 3,000 trained mobilisers, supported by state media and local authorities. "In complex emergency situations such as prevailing in the Great Lakes Region, the polio campaign contributes to supporting the routine Expanded Programme of Immunisation and to the creation of a basis for peace between different parties in conflicts," Charles Delacollette, the director general representative of WHO in Burundi, said.