South Sudan: Vice President Launches Country-Wide Polio Vaccination Campaign

Juba — Personally vaccinating school children at a hospital in Juba, His Excellency the Vice President James Wani Igga calls on all South Sudanese to ensure every child up to fifteen years old is vaccinated against polio.

HE Igga, immunized six girls and boys against polio yesterday while launching a massive series of polio vaccination campaigns designed to protect children against polio and to stop transmission of the virus. The vaccination was conducted at a ceremony held at the El- Sabbah Children's Hospital in Juba, Central Equatoria.

The Launch follows a government declaration of polio as a national health emergency on September 30. And together with its partners, in particular WHO and UNICEF, the Government mobilized emergency vaccinations in the affected Counties to stop transmission of the virus.

In his speech to the people attending the ceremony, the Vice President remarked, "Kicking polio out of South Sudan forever is a high priority for me and for the Government of this country. It is our duty and the duty of everyone in the country to make sure children are vaccinated, we are the youngest nation on earth - and our children are the future of the nation. They are the ones who will make South Sudan great. So let them grow up in a country free of polio," he said.

The Vice President assured the public that the vaccines were completely safe. "The vaccines that I am about to give personally to these boys and girls and the vaccines that the health workers will be given to all of our children across the country and they are absolutely safe; they will not cause any harm to any child, no matter how old they are."

South Sudan has been on high alert following polio outbreak in the neighbouring countries, of Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia earlier this year. Three cases were confirmed in South Sudan on September 26 in a two year-old girl in Ikotos County, Eastern Equatoria State, and a two year-old and an eight year-old girls both from Aweil County, Northern Bahr El Ghazal State.

There is no cure for polio, but the disease can be prevented by vaccination. The round of vaccinations officially launched by the Vice President began in October 22 and will last for seven days. The current round will cover all of Eastern, Central and Western Equatoria States and the capital cities of the other States. Further rounds of polio vaccinations will cover all parts of the county from over the coming weeks. The Government and partners are determined reach all corners of the country, despite logistic and security challenges.

The current polio outbreak has also affected children who are older than 5 years. One of the girls infected with polio in Northern Bahr el Ghazal State was eight years old, and several children in Somalia have been in their early teenage years. Because of this, the Minister of Health, Honourable Dr Riek Gai Kok noted, "We are taking extra precaution in the current vaccination campaigns. Instead of vaccinating only children from zero to five years old, as we normally do, we will be vaccinating children from zero to fifteen years old. Older children are also at risk in this current outbreak and they too must be protected."

The WHO Head of country office, Dr Abdi Aden Mohammed committed WHO's support towards polio eradication in South Sudan, "We shall continue to provide technical and financial support to South Sudan, including training and facilitating vaccinators to reach every child, develop tools that assist in organizing and implementing relevant health promotion initiatives targeting polio guided by the national health goals and current epidemiological evidence".

The UNICEF South Sudan Deputy Representative Pelucy Ntambirweki highlighted the importance of partnership in defeating polio, not just in South Sudan, but around the world. "Until the day polio is eradicated, no unimmunized child anywhere is free of risk from the virus," she told the crowd. Despite the current outbreak, she said, "Progress towards the final defeat of polio is unstoppable. The Global Polio Eradication Initiative aims to eradicate polio by 2018. One day soon, we will completely defeat polio and the world will be free of this terrible disease."

In the long run, the best way to protect children against polio is through polio vaccinations received as part of their routine immunizations. Routine immunization is more cost-effective, and more sustainable than house-to-house campaigns. The Routine Immunization rates have significantly improved in South Sudan over recent years, protecting children from six dangerous childhood diseases, including polio, Ntambirki sai.

Protection against polio increases with each polio vaccination a child receives. Parents, teachers and community leaders need to make sure that all children up to fifteen years old are vaccinated each time polio vaccinators visit their communities. Do not fail your children by leaving them unprotected against this debilitating disease, he added.