Regional polio campaign kicks off

WHO, UNICEF, Rotary International and numerous other international and national partners launched on Friday a regional health campaign aimed at eradicating polio, the UNICEF office in Sierra Leone told IRIN. The campaign, which will last seven days, aims to immunise 80 million children under five years old across 16 countries in West Africa. The National Immunisations Days (NIDs) are a "synchronised" effort by the countries to eliminate the disease by the year 2005. The number of new cases has drastically reduced over the last ten years, with so far only 20 new cases reported in the region for 2001. However West Africa, notably Nigeria, still remains one of the areas the most affected by the poliovirus. NIDs campaigns reached some 76 million children last year. This year, the organisations hope to reach children in nomadic camps, refugee areas, volatile border areas as well as other previously unreachable areas. A second round is slated for next month. Sierra Leone's President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah attended the ceremony at Lungi, just north of the capital Freetown, along with other dignitaries, UN officials and health officials from the region. The campaign would take place in Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Cote d'Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.