3 day Sub-National Immunization Days for Polio
Eradication
Dr Sayed Mohammad Amin Fatimie opens a 3 day
Sub-National Immunization Days for Polio Eradication
in 15 provinces of Afghanistan
Ministry of Public Health (MoPH), Afghanistan
April 12, 2009
20,081 staff of MoPH and volunteers will drop polio
vaccines to the mouth of 2.99 million under 5 year age
children in 15 provinces of the country, namely; Kunar,
Nangarhar, Laghman, Nuristan, Khost, Ghazni, Paktia,
Paktika, Zabul, Kandahar, Helmand, Nimruz, Urozgan,
Farah and Badghis. This is a huge operation which
covers all villages and provides a unique opportunity
to Afghan families to get their children vaccinated
against Polio and be in contact with the health
workers said Dr. S. M. Amin Fatimie, Minister of
Public Health of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.
We request all Afghans, health workers and health
partners to provide any kind of help and support to
this process so that all target children could get
vaccinated in the coming 3 days he added.
What is polio?
Poliomyelitis (polio) is a highly infectious
disease caused by a virus. The virus enters the body
through mouth and multiplies in the intestines and
then it invades the nervous system and can cause total
paralysis in a matter of hours. Initial symptoms are
fever, fatigue, headache, vomiting, and stiffness in
the neck and pain in the limbs. There are certain key
facts about polio for example there is no cure for
polio, it can only be prevented. Polio vaccine, given
multiple times, can protect a child for life;
poliovirus can travel from village to village and from
country to country through un-immunized children, one
un-immunized child can leave tens or hundreds more
paralyzed for life. Children everywhere are at risk of
infection.
High population density, bad environmental
sanitation, bad personal hygiene, low routine EPI
coverage, bad SIAs coverage, high population movement
and hidden inaccessible communities are the factors
that can sustain polio virus circulation.
Poliovirus is spread by the fecal-oral route,
which, despite its unsavory name is a common route of
microbial infection. The virus can be isolated from
human feces and sewage. In areas where raw sewage
enters a watershed without treatment, polio can be
found in rivers, lakes and streams. When a susceptible
person drinks water from one of these sources
(possibly from the kitchen tap when local water
supplies are not treated properly), the virus enters
his/her digestive tract. |
