Vaccination campaign to aid more than 85 million children in Africa
March 6th, 2010 - 2:14 am ICT by BNO NewsDAKAR, SENEGAL (BNO NEWS) – More than 85 million children under five years old will be immunized against polio in 19 countries across West and Central Africa, the World Health Organization said Friday.
The massive cross-border cooperation is aimed at stopping a year-long polio epidemic in nine countries in West and Central Africa – Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Senegal and Sierra Leone – which are considered to have active outbreaks of polio.
The campaign is counting on over 400,000 volunteers and health workers, who will begin working on March 6 in the mentioned countries, while Nigeria, Ghana, Benin, Central African Republic, Gambia, Cape Verde and Guinea Bissau. Niger, Togo and Cote d’Ivoire will be joining the cause at a later date.
A $30 million in funding released by Rotary International has made this global effort to stop polio possible.
“With better coverage that leaves no child unvaccinated, these campaigns can succeed in making West and Central Africa polio-free,” UNICEF’s Regional Director for West and Central Africa, Dr Gianfranco Rotigliano said.
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Tags: 30 million, burkina faso, central africa, cote d ivoire, cross border cooperation, dakar, gianfranco rotigliano, global effort, guinea bissau, health workers, mauritania, nigeria ghana, polio, polio epidemic, regional director, rotary international, sierra leone, unicef, vaccination campaign, world health organization