South Sudan Launches Polio Campaign The Ministry of Health of the Government of South Sudan and its international partners have launched a campaign against polio.04 November 2011 South Sudan Health Minister Dr Michael Milli administers polio vaccine to a child during the launch of the campaign in Juba. [© Gurtong]By Waakhe Simon Wudu
JUBA, 04 November 2011 [Gurtong] - The exercise that commenced Thursday targets 600,000 children in the country. The Health Minister Dr Michael Milli told the press at the launch at Kimu Health Center in Gudele, Juba that South Sudan is at the verge of declaring the country polio free as it has been fighting the killer disease during the peaceful interim period. “From next Tuesday up to Friday we shall have a nationwide campaign against polio where we will deploy over 20,000 of our staffs to conduct door-to-door campaign where they will administer drops of polio vaccine to the children”, Dr Milli said. He added that the campaign is in line with government policy as elaborated by President Salva Kiir in his inaugural speech upon being declared the South Sudanese head of state. “The President directed us that within the first hundred days of the inception of the Government of South Sudan we should make sure that at least 600,000 children are vaccinated against polio”, he said. The Minister added that the government targets to vaccinate 3.2 million children this year against polio, explaining that this is the third time this year the campaign is taking place while the forth one will take place next month. The exercise is being undertaken with assistance from UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO). ‘’These partners have been tirelessly facilitating the vaccination through supply of the vaccines and other forms of support”, said Dr Milli. The two international partners have pledged their continuous support to kick polio out of South Sudan. The UNICEF Chief of Programs Pelusi Tambirizi has appealed to all stakeholders to advocate for all mothers to ensure that children less than five years are vaccinated against the disease. “Am appealing to all of us; the parents, religious leaders and the media to spread the word. Let every child under the age of five be immunized next week”, Pelusi said. Posted in: Home, Health -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "South Sudan Info - The Kob" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/SouthSudanKob?hl=en.
