Polio immunisation campaign kicks off in Mogadishu

Following the identification of two polio cases in Somalia, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) began a three-day emergency polio immunisation campaign on Thursday in the capital, Mogadishu, officials said.

The two cases, in the country's southern Benadir Region, in which Mogadishu is located, were the first to be identified in Somalia since October 2002. They were detected by WHO's national polio surveillance system, WHO and UNICEF said in a joint statement.

"The rapid implementation of high quality immunisation activities will limit the spread of the polio virus," Dr. Ibrahim Betelmal, the WHO representative for Somalia, said in the statement.

WHO and UNICEF said in order to reach the children, they were working with all available partners; including local NGOs and community-based organizations, religious leaders, women’s groups, youth groups, doctors, traditional healers and others to help raise awareness and support control and prevention efforts. It added that a scientific assessment of the situation had also begun.

"The campaign will continue until 24 September and vaccinators are conducting door-to-door immunisation targeting children aged five years and under. We hope to reach about 268,000 children," Christian Balslev-Olesen, the UNICEF representative for Somalia, said.

The September campaign follows nationwide polio immunisation efforts in February, March, June, July and August to protect the country's children from lifelong paralysis caused by the disease. The June campaign followed a WHO warning that Somalia could become reinfected with polio from nearby Ethiopia and Yemen.

Afghanistan, Egypt, India, Niger, Nigeria and Pakistan remain polio-endemic, and the virus has continued to spread to previously polio-free countries. In total, 10 previously polio-free countries - Angola, Cameroon, Chad, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Mali, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen - had been reinfected in late 2004 and 2005.