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Malawi polio case triggers regional vaccination

Malawi is among four countries in Eastern and Southern Africa expected to administer polio vaccines to more than nine million children within the region.

Other countries where the polio vaccines will be administered include Zambia, Tanzania and Mozambique. This follows the confirmation of one polio case of a three-year-old girl in Lilongwe on February 17 2022.

A child gets her dose during the previous vaccination campaign

The launch of the polio vaccination exercise was held in Lilongwe yesterday with Malawi expected to start administering the polio vaccines from today to Thursday.

According to a statement from the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef), more than 36 million doses of polio vaccine for the first two rounds of immunisations have been procured with three more rounds of vaccinations to follow in coming months, covering a total of 20 million children.

Unicef regional director for Eastern and Southern Africa Mohamed Fall is quoted in the statement as having said the spread of polio is faster and can kill or cause permanent paralysis.

He said: “This is the first case of wild polio detected in Africa for more than five years and Unicef is closely working with governments and partners to do everything possible to stop the virus in its tracks.”

He said Unicef is working with the World Health Organisation (WHO) and other partners to ensure the publuc know the importance of children receiving the vaccines.

According to the statement, polio is usually spread through water contaminated with faeces of someone who carries the virus and children under the age of five.

WHO regional director for Africa, Matshidiso Moeti, said in a statement on Friday that they are working tirelessly to stop the virus from spreading.

The last polio case in Malawi was reported in 1992, making the Lilongwe case the first in 30 years.

Malawi also obtained a polio-free status in 2005 while the WHO African region received its first polio-free status certificate in 2020.

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