« The ministry of Public Health together with the Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) has unveiled it’s agenda for the second tour of the Free vaccination program against POLIOVIRUS ».
The vaccination program is previewed to hold from the 3rd to the 5th of November 2023Free six regions of the country : Center, Littoral, South, South West, North West and the West Regions for children between the ages of 0-59 months.
The information was disclosed during a press conference that took place on Friday October 27th at the Littoral regional delegation of Public Health in Bonanjo Douala.
The health officials during the press conference mapped out the strategies to be employed for a successful vacation of children between 0-59 months.
The second vaccination tour according to the health officials is aimed at collectively reinforcing the immunity system of children less than 5 years against the type 2 Polio virus by vaccinating them with the new type 2 Oral Polio vaccine and to stop the spread of the virus.
The campaign thus, seeks at ensuring an effective communication of at least 95%of targeted parents on some of the diseases targeted by the EPI, particularly on poliomyelitis, some of the repost interventions offered during the program before the deployment of the vaccination agents in the various local communities. The campaign equally entails catching up with children between 0-23 months who have never been administered a Polio virus vaccine in order to ensure that all targeted children are attained.
According to the statistics of the ministry of public health in an independent investigation, the vicinal coverage as of September 2020 stood at 49.5% that is 59/119 accepted cases bringing an estimated coverage of at least 95%.
It is worth recalling that on the 18th of June 2020, Cameroon was declared a POLIOVIRUS free nation. But however seven cases were detected in 2021. The Public Health ministry as a response strategy, conducted a national vaccination campaign with the nVPO2 in two rounds. A third shift was effectuated in the months of May and July 2022. Three cases of type 2 Polio virus were recorded in Mokolo health district of the Far North region. In response, three vaccination tours were carried out in 16 districts of the region in January 2023. In the months of May and June, two rounds were conducted in four risk regions; Adamawa, East, Far North and North regions. The Center region was equally affected by the virus recording 5 variants reasons why the campaign is being deployed to curb the spread of the virus as medical professionals say the best way out of the incurable POLIOVIRUS is through vaccination.
For the vaccination campaign that kicks off from Friday 3rd to Sunday 5th November 2023, some 2,893,131 children of 0-59 months are targeted in the six selected regions of the campaign.
In the center region, 1,065,512 children in 32 districts.
Littoral region, 582,436 in 24 health districts.
North West, 294,368 in 20 districts.
West region, 513,703 in 20 districts.
South region, 148,266 in 12 districts.
And in the South West Region, 288,846 in 19 districts making a total of 2,893,131 in 127 health districts targeted for the vaccination campaign.
The campaign will be administered at the health districts, public places of proximity to better meet up with the target population. Parents are therefore called upon to grap the opportunity of the free vaccination campaign to ensure a better health condition of their children, void of Polio virus.
Juliette MESAME
