Connect with us

Health

Burkina Faso restarts polio vaccination campaign under strict COVID-19 precautions

 


Brazzaville-Burkina Faso today closed its four-day polio vaccination campaign to 174,304 children under the age of five in two districts of the country’s Center East region, while monitoring COVID-19 infection prevention and control measures. I was vaccinated.

The campaign was first conducted because the government suspended all mass vaccinations on March 27 for a COVID-19 pandemic that complies with physical distance guidelines for controlling viral transmission. ..

As vaccination campaigns resume, World Health Organization (WHO) teams in both regional and national offices provide guidance to national and frontline workers to ensure their safety and the safety of their children and their families. is created.

All vaccinated persons and health-care workers involved are trained in maintaining physical distance while vaccination. In addition, through the national COVID-19 Committee, a total of 41 250 masks and 200 liters of hand sanitizer were provided to the 2000 frontline workers who participated in the vaccination campaign.

While the mass vaccination is suspended, the healthcare facility is still up and providing regular vaccination services. However, according to a national WHO team, parents and caregivers hesitated to vaccinate their children for fear of becoming infected with COVID-19, resulting in a 10% reduction in vaccination rates.

“We can’t wait for the COVID-19 pandemic to be contained in order to resume vaccination activities. Stopping vaccinations too long, including polio, will prevent vaccine-preventable diseases from harming the health of children across the region.” It will have a significant impact,” said Dr. Matshidiso. Moeti, WHO Africa Regional Director.

“The campaign run by the Polio Eradication Program shows that mass vaccination can be safely carried out under strict enforcement of COVID-19 infection prevention and control guidelines,” Dr. Moeti added.

Burkina Faso acquired a poliovirus-free wild position in 2015, but is now one of 15 countries in the African region and is endemic to vaccination poliovirus. Poor hygiene and low levels of polio vaccination.

As of June 27, the country’s disease surveillance system had detected 10 cases of circulating poliovirus infection with the vaccine in the areas of Wargae, Vito, Bogodgo, Kaya, Tuguuri, Signyogin, Saponé, and Dori. An urgent response was needed.

“The suspension of vaccination activity has disrupted our response to the circulation of vaccine-derived poliovirus, even though it is necessary to protect frontline workers and communities.” Team worked non-stop across the region and, in addition to COVID support, after 19 responses, we continued to monitor for essential illness and plan to resume response to the polio outbreak if circumstances permit. I am.”

The WHO Africa region set up a rapid regional response team in September 2019 and mobilized the response to vaccine-borne poliovirus epidemics in the region within 72 hours. The campaign will include three vaccination campaigns in the affected area within three months, with the first round within the first 14 days. The Rapid Response Team has successfully completed three outbreaks in Kenya, Mozambique and Niger.

Angola plans a polio vaccination campaign targeting 1,287,717 children under the age of five from July 10th to 13th. The 14,742 campaign staff includes 4,309 vaccinated persons. Similar to Burkina Faso, strict infection control measures are in place, including distribution of 90,000 masks and 23,000 disinfectants of 500 ml from the national Ministry of Health.

Note to editors

Polio is a viral disease that spreads from person to person, mainly from the faeces by the oral route, and, less frequently, through contaminated water and food and propagates in the intestines.

There is no cure for polio, but simple and effective vaccines can prevent the disease. That is why efforts are continuing in all countries to rapidly raise the immunity of children and protect them from Polio paralysis.

Wild poliovirus has not been detected anywhere in Africa since 2016. This contrasts with 1996 when wild poliovirus paralyzed more than 75,000 children in all continental countries. The African Regional Certification Commission (ARCC), an independent committee designated to certify the eradication of wild poliovirus in the WHO African region, will certify regions free of wild poliovirus in August 2020.