Freetpersonal, Sierra Leone, 22nd Might 2024 —The Sierra Leone Ministry of Well being and Nationwide Public Well being Company with help of WHO and different companions together with UNICEF, Rotary Worldwide, the US Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention (CDC), Invoice & Melinda Gates Basis, and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance have accomplished the primary spherical of a nation-wide vaccination marketing campaign to manage the unfold of vaccine-derived kind 2 poliovirus (cVDPV2) in Sierra Leone.
About 1,669,594 kids underneath 5 have been vaccinated throughout the nation on this first spherical. Over 4,000 healthcare groups had been mobilized throughout the marketing campaign, together with for group engagement and vaccine administration.
Confirmed in March 2024, the kind 2 poliovirus (cVDPV2) outbreak was reported within the nation and different neighboring nations of Guinea and Liberia, resulting in synchronized house-to-house polio vaccination campaigns within the first spherical involving different 5 nations of Liberia, Guinea, Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, and Burkina Faso utilizing the novel oral polio vaccine (nOPV2). The synchronization geared toward guaranteeing that each baby underneath 5 years acquired the vaccine concurrently, a essential step in combating polio. This spherical marks the primary of two deliberate rounds with the second anticipated to happen subsequent month (June).
“Sierra Leone has made vital progress for moms, which is why we at the moment are directing our consideration to kids’s well being throughout totally different life phases, using a person-centered strategy. This vaccination affirms the federal government’s dedication to the folks of Sierra Leone, striving to eradicate sicknesses, particularly amongst kids,” stated Professor Senessie, the Deputy Minister of Well being.
“The nation nonetheless has a lot to do to cut back the prevalence of sicknesses amongst kids and their antagonistic results and we’ll work with our companions to push this agenda,” he added.
Mariatu Yambasu whose five-month-old child was a beneficiary of the vaccine, urged moms to beat hesitancy and misinformation, emphasizing the profound advantages of vaccination in safeguarding kids’s well being and well-being.
“I’m right here to vaccinate my baby as a result of I don’t need her to contract the polio virus. As a mom, I’ll champion constructive messaging on the advantages of vaccination,” stated Mariatu.
Abu Bakarr Koroma, a polio survivor, additionally urged moms to prioritize vaccination for his or her kids. He emphasised the devastating penalties of polio and the significance of proactive measures. “I contracted the polio virus at age two; my mother and father took me to a quack physician who administered the unsuitable remedy, leaving me paralyzed, stated Koroma.” This devastates households, which I skilled firsthand, contemplating some misconceptions that polio is a curse,” he added.
The polio vaccination marketing campaign is an element of a bigger response plan led by nationwide well being authorities to manage the unfold of polio. Parallel actions embrace strengthening surveillance and case detection, enhancing pattern assortment, procuring, and distributing vaccines in well being amenities, and coaching and deploying vaccinators. Group engagement was additionally performed to show communities defend in opposition to polio.
Polio is an infectious illness attributable to a virus that may unfold from individual to individual and trigger paralysis. It spreads by way of the consumption of oral fecal matter. Vaccination in opposition to polio is secure and efficient for stopping the illness.
The WHO will proceed to work with all companions to help the federal government of Sierra Leone by way of the Ministry of Well being to strengthen well being methods and help progress in the direction of common well being protection within the nation.