Gitega’s provincial governor, Louis Murengera, last week met with communal administrators and health centre officials so as to jointly determine strategies aimed at a “wide-ranging” vaccination programme to eradicate polio during the fifth national vaccination days (JNV) planned for August and September. Burundi news agency ABP said that the meeting agreed to involve grassroots administrators and religious representatives in an awareness campaign to encourage parents to vaccinate all children between 0 and 59 months, and to give the Gitega health province director the task of negotiating with the relevant bodies to arrange for more vaccination centres, in order to reduce the long journeys, and make vaccination and logistics equipment available. Burundi decided to organise further national vaccination days against polio, which was thought to have been eradicated in 1997, 98, 99 and 200 following the influx of people from neighbouring countries in which polio cases are still reported.
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