Kenya steps up polio vaccination efforts

From Kenya Public Broadcasting:

The ministry of public health and sanitation has stepped up polio vaccination campaigns following an upsurge of polio cases in some parts of the country.

Minister Beth Mugo (pictured) said the vaccination campaign will target approximately 344,661 children under the age of five.

Updating the media on the state of polio in the country Mugo said the exercise which will cost Ksh 41 million will cover twelve districts considered to be at high risk of polio outbreaks.

This will include, Turkana North, South and Central, Samburu North, Central and East, Pokot West, East and Central and Baringo East and Central.

"The vaccination team will go from door to door and administer the oral vaccine free of charge and it will also be available in all health facilities," Mugo said.

She called on parents to avail their children under the age of five years for the exercise regardless of whether or not they have previously been vaccinated or not.

The minister said the disease surveillance has been intensified to detect any suspected cases of polio in the country.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said Thursday that 17 cases of polio have been reported in Turkana districts since the beginning of the year.

WHO country director Dr. David Okello however said the cases are as a result of movement of refugees from Southern Sudan to the country through the porous Kenya-Sudan border.

He said there have been three synchronized vaccination campaigns in 42 high risk districts in North Rift Valley, Nairobi and Central province.

Dr. Okello said the exercise has in the past faced challenges occasioned by the nomadic lifestyle of the Turkana community in search of water and pastures.

"Even during the previous vaccine administration, new cases were still being reported because of the people's movement from one place to another," Dr. Okello said.