The Ghana Red Cross Society – Upper West Region has launched a sensitisation program of the National Polio Vaccination campaign to increase awareness on the exercise.
The Government of Ghana, with the support of the World Health Organization (WHO) and other partners of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), rolled out a polio vaccination campaign, targeting children under five years across all 16 regions of Ghana. This follows the confirmation of circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2) in the country from two acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) cases; one each from North Gonja District in Savanna Region and West Mamprusi in North East Region.
The campaign, which is scheduled for 1 – 4 September 2022 for the First Round and 6 – 9 October 2022 for the Second Round, is expected to increase population immunity against the Type 2 Poliovirus and break transmission of the disease. Over six million children across the country are expected to receive the novel Oral Polio Vaccine Type 2 (nOPV2) for each of the rounds.
On the back of this development, Ghana Red Cross Society – the largest volunteer-based humanitarian service organization in the country has launched a nationwide sensitisation of the National Polio Vaccination campaign to increase awareness on the exercise. This is done in an effort to compliment to the Ghana Health Service towards the complete eradication of the Polio disease.
At a ceremony at the Wa- Sombo CHIPS Compound yesterday Wednesday October 05, 2022,The Upper West Regional Manager of Red Cross society, Mr.Jeremiah Afako said, “ Sad reminder , These outbreaks in the previously polio-free countries come as a sad reminder to the international community that the fight against polio is not over ,We need to act now to protect major efforts accomplished over the past 20 years to eradicate polio”.
He further revealed that in 1988, more than 125 countries across the world were endemic to polio but today this has been reduced to only four: Nigeria, India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. However, with recent outbreaks across the continent, there are concerns that we must redouble our efforts to ensure that polio does not spread to countries which have worked so hard to eradicate it from their populations. In 2004-2006, a similar outbreak resulted in the spread of polio from Sudan to other parts of the African continent and beyond to Asia.
