33 million kids vaccinated against polio in southern Africa
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- 06 Mar 2023
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More than 33 million children in several southern African countries have been vaccinated against polio, part of ongoing efforts to eradicate the infectious paralytic disease that has been largely contained in much of the world, the World Health Organization announced on Friday.
About 80 million drops of the inoculation have been placed in the mouths of children across Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Tanzania and Zimbabwe since the launch of an emergency response in March last year, WHO said in a statement.
Malawi detected the wild poliovirus disease in a young child in its capital, Lilongwe, in February last year — the first time the strain was reported in Africa in five years. The virus spread to neighboring Mozambique, causing other countries in the region to be on alert.
Africa was certified as free of indigenous wild polio in 2020, according to WHO, which says the recent strain originated from Pakistan. The South Asian country and its neighbor, Afghanistan, are the only two countries where the virus is still entrenched.
In the latest outbreak, Malawi has reported one case while Mozambique has recorded eight. Mozambique recorded the last confirmed case in August 2022, said WHO. Read More…
