South Sudan Closer to Being Polio-Free
South Sudan officials are hopeful the country will soon be declared polio-free, as the latest round of nationwide polio immunizations wraps up.
On the brink of being polio-free
Before 2008, the area that is now South Sudan, had been considered free of polio. That year the country was re-infected through an imported strain that originated in Nigeria.
In a country with only a 43 percent routine childhood immunization rate, there was widespread fear the highly infectious disease could spread. And it did. In six months after polio reappeared in South Sudan, 64 children were infected. All of them suffered at least partial paralysis.
But now South Sudan is on the brink of being declared polio-free, according to Dr. Abdi Aden Mohamed, the head of the World Health Organization in South Sudan.
“We are by now without a case for the last 32-plus months and hopefully, we will be able to say in four months South Sudan is polio free,” he said. “We are very cautious in the sense of there are a number of countries surrounding South Sudan that cases might be here and there.”
Polio vaccinations, every child under six years
To make sure South Sudan reaches its goal the government, in collaboration with
Read more: http://www.voanews.com/english/news/africa/South-Sudan-Closer-to-Being-Polio-Free-145141945.html
Category: South Sudan News
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