Polio vaccinations to target a million children

Kenya is to undertake two rounds of emergency polio vaccination in August and September to protect nearly a million children from the disease which has been reported in neighbouring countries, the health ministry said on Monday. The director of medical services, James Nyikal, said his ministry was concerned about the possibility of the poliovirus being imported after the illness was reported in Ethiopia, Sudan and Yemen. "To avert the possible threat of a polio outbreak in Kenya, the Ministry of Health, in collaboration with other partners, will vaccinate 920,528 children below five years living in 20 high-risk districts of Northeastern, Eastern, Coast and Nairobi provinces," Nyikal said in a statement. The immunisation drive would cost approximately US $1.5 million, he said, and would be undertaken in partnership with the UN World Health Organization and the UN Children's Fund. He urged well-wishers and donors to contribute resources to make the campaign a success. Nyikal noted that Kenya was at risk of importing the poliovirus because of its geographical proximity and large population movements by air, sea and land between the country and three of the states where new cases have been reported. Two rounds of emergency polio vaccination were carried out earlier this year the frontier districts of Marsabit, on the Ethiopian border, West Pokot, which borders Uganda, and Turkana, next to Sudan, where an outbreak of polio occurred in 2004. As a result of the 2003-2005 outbreaks in west and central Africa, the illness has spread to 16 countries previously free of the disease: Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Indonesia, Mali, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Togo and Yemen. Poliomyelitis ("polio") is caused by the poliovirus, which enters the body orally, infecting the intestinal lining. It may proceed to the blood stream and into the central nervous system, causing muscle weakness and often paralysis. In areas with poor hygiene and sanitation, polio spreads through human contact, usually by faecally contaminated water or food, but the virus can also be spread through coughing and sneezing in crowded environments. Symptoms include fatigue, sore throat, fever, vomiting, gastro-intestinal disturbances, headache and pain in the neck and extremities. Weakness of muscles often leads to permanent paralysis and deformity of the limbs. According to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, Kenya's last polio case was reported in 1993.