Anti-polio drive begins in Lobaye

A weeklong polio immunisation campaign began on Thursday in the southwestern province of Lobaye in the Central African Republic (CAR), state-owned Radio Centrafrique reported. The campaign focuses on the Mbaiki, Boda and Mongoumba areas, 107 km, 192 km and 189 km southwest of the CAR capital, Bangui. Children aged up to five years are being targeted in the immunisation campaign, the second this year. "Our mobile team is ready, we trained technicians who will go from door to door throughout the whole province to immunise the children," Ngoma Dede, the Lobaye provincial medical doctor, told IRIN on Thursday. The first phase of the anti-polio immunisation campaign, covering six provinces, took place on 1 March, during which 70.95 percent of children in Lobaye Province were immunised . "During this second phase of the anti-polio campaign, we will exceed the previous percentage," Dede said. The first phase of the campaign was initially scheduled for 23 to 28 February but was postponed due to a delay in funding. It began on 1 March with funding from the UN World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Rotary Club as well as vaccines from the UN Children’s Fund. The campaign covered the provinces of Ombella Mpoko and Lobaye in the southwest, Ouham and Ouham Pende in the northwest, Kemo and Nana Grebizi in north-central CAR as well as the capital, Bangui. The Health Ministry opted for the immunisation following the confirmation in January of a case of wild polio in Bossembele, a town 157 km northwest of Bangui in Ombella Mpoko Province. The polio case was the first in four years. This year's immunisation drives follow another nationwide anti-polio drive in November-December 2003. All the targeted provinces, except Lobaye, were directly affected by the October 2002-March 2003 rebellion that almost annihilated the health sector in the northwest, preventing children from being immunised for over a year. Nine other countries in western and central Africa carried out similar drives between 23-28 February to eradicate polio. These include Nigeria, reported to be the worst affected nation worldwide.