Northern Region Launches Polio Vaccination Campaign

Dr. Hilarius A.K Abiwu addressing Journalists in Tamale

The Northern regional health directorate of the Ghana Health Service (GHS) has launched the Polio Vaccination Campaign in Tamale.

Personnel’s from the GHS will be dispatched to various homes across the Northern region to vaccinate children under 5 years against polio.

“ Once we are successful, in October our teams will return again to the various homes to look for the children again and give them a second dose of the polio vaccine. The idea is that the more doses of the vaccine one receives the stronger the child’s immunity against polio,”Deputy Director Public Health , GHS, Dr. Hilarius A.K Abiwu said.

According to the GHS, a routine surveillance conducted in May this year revealed symptoms of polio viruses in some children in the Sagnarigu and Kobilmagu areas.

As part of a response action , the Service with other partners launched the Polio Vaccination Campaign to prevent children against the potential effects of the polio viruses in the environment.

Dr. Abiwu at a press conference told journalists that an outbreak investigation was conducted in the Sagnarigu and Kobilmagu areas and samples of drains were taken to Noguchi institute for medical research and that the result came back positive for polio virus.

“ A number of samples from children in these areas were also taken and it came back positive for these circulating virus.What this meant was that for as long as we have these viruses circulating in these environments and we have children who are not protected by way of immunization against the polio virus then potentially those children could suffer from polio when they get into contact with these viruses that are circulating in the environment.”

He disclosed that polio transmission is from filth or faecal matter into the mouth and that once our sanitation is not improved children play around and are exposed to the viruses.

Dr. Abiwu assured the public that the vaccine is safe and that any child exposed to it will be protected against any dangerous effects of polio.

The Northern Regional Deputy Director of Public Health however appealed to the media to help sensitize the general public about the importance of the polio vaccination.

FROM Eric Kombat, Tamale