1. Home
  2. East Africa
  3. Uganda

Health minister calls for sustained anti-polio effort

Minister of Health Jim [Katagugu] Muhwezi said on Friday welcomed the fact that Uganda had not had a single new case of polio since 1996, when the campaign against polio was started, and appealed to all parents to have their children vaccinated in this year’s National Immunisation Days (NIDs) to consolidate the gains made. Muhwezi said there would also be additional ‘mop-up’ vaccination operations in areas bordering Sudan, Kenya and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), starting on Saturday, 11 August, the government-owned ‘New Vision’ newspaper reported. “The rationale for carrying out sub-National Immunisation Days is that both the DRC and southern Sudan are still isolating [cases of] wild polio virus,” it quoted Muhwezi as saying. “The other reason is that our borders are porous and, therefore, the importation of this wild polio virus is a real possibility,” he added. Muhwezi anticipated that Uganda - and the rest of Africa - would be declared polio-free by 2005. Brigadier Jim Muhwezi was a controversial choice among President Yoweri Museveni’s 64 ministerial and junior ministerial appointments in late July, having been censured by the last parliament - along with Minister of State for Investment Sam Kuteesa - for alleged abuse of office.

This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

Share this article

Get the day’s top headlines in your inbox every morning

Starting at just $5 a month, you can become a member of The New Humanitarian and receive our premium newsletter, DAWNS Digest.

DAWNS Digest has been the trusted essential morning read for global aid and foreign policy professionals for more than 10 years.

Government, media, global governance organisations, NGOs, academics, and more subscribe to DAWNS to receive the day’s top global headlines of news and analysis in their inboxes every weekday morning.

It’s the perfect way to start your day.

Become a member of The New Humanitarian today and you’ll automatically be subscribed to DAWNS Digest – free of charge.

Become a member of The New Humanitarian

Support our journalism and become more involved in our community. Help us deliver informative, accessible, independent journalism that you can trust and provides accountability to the millions of people affected by crises worldwide.

Join