Polio cases increase to 83

The number of confirmed polio cases in Yemen has risen again this week to 83 with another 411 suspected, according to aid agencies. The World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) announced the increase at a press conference in the capital, Sana on Tuesday. On 15 May, the number of confirmed cases stood at 63. “The number of confirmed polio cases has reached 83 across six provinces. This number could increase to 200, as many more suspected cases are still being investigated,” WHO representative for Yemen, Dr Hashim Al-Zain, told IRIN in Sana. The most badly affected governorates are Hodeidah in the west, Sana and Taiz in the south, along with Hadramawt in the east and Amran in the north. Yemen was designated polio free by WHO in 1996 and officials say the latest outbreak was brought in from Africa. Polio is a highly infectious viral disease which invades the nervous system and can cause total paralysis in a matter of hours. UNICEF, one of the major partners in the country’s polio eradication programme, has launched a huge campaign to promote awareness and inform illiterate communities about the importance of vaccination. “The spread of polio in Yemen needs a large national campaign and mobilisation to convince people that vaccination is best and beneficial for children,” UNICEF representative in Yemen, Ramesh Shrestha, said. As part of the campaign, some five million vaccination doses will arrive in Sana on 30 May and will be administered immediately, in the first phase of a two-round immunisation campaign. In addition, Yemen’s Ministry of Health (MoH) along with UNICEF and the WHO are launching a social mobilisation campaign to engage schools, mosques and community leaders to motivate parents to bring their children for vaccination. “More than 1.5 million Yemeni children are under five years of age and immunisation of children is the only defence that parents can give them,” UNICEF communications coordinator, Naseem Ur-Rehman told IRIN. He added that vaccine-preventable diseases kill two million children globally every year.