UNICEF to roll out Polio immunisation campaign in four countries after case confirmed in Malawi

A polio immunization exercise

* As Blantyre DHO embarks its exercise from Monday, March 21-31 targeting under-5 children

By Duncan Mlanjira, Maravi Express & Mayamiko Phiri, Correspondent

With the support from UNICEF and other partners, more than 9 million children in four countries of the Eastern and Southern Africa are to be vaccinated against polio in the first round of a mass campaign after an outbreak was confirmed in Malawi.

Meanwhile, as part of its national response, Blantyre District Health Office (DHO) announced last Thursday that it will embark its mass supplemental polio vaccination response from Monday, March 21-31 targeting under-5 children using the bivalent oral polio vaccine (BOPV).

A statement from UNICEF issued on Sunday, March 20 said the drive will be followed on Thursday with campaigns starting in neighbouring Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia.

Three more rounds of vaccination will follow in the coming months, covering a total of more than 20 million children.

“This is the first case of wild polio detected in Africa for more than five years and UNICEF is working closely with governments and partners to do everything possible to stop the virus in its tracks,” the statement quotes Mohamed M. Fall, UNICEF’s regional rirector for Eastern and Southern Africa.

“Polio spreads fast and can kill or cause permanent paralysis,” he said adding that UNICEF, World Health Organization (WHO) and other partners of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative are supporting governments with the urgent drive, after it was confirmed last month that a three-year-old girl was paralyzed by wild poliovirus in Lilongwe in Malawi.

When the single case was reported last month, Health Minister Khumbize Kandodo Chiponda said the Ministry has in place Independent National Polio Expert Committees (National Expert Committee and the National Polio Certification Committee) which oversee and coordinate the polio surveillance and reporting system in the Country in line with the WHO recommendations.

And in line with WHO guidance and the International Health Regulations (IHR), the country immediately put in place additional activities in order to contain the situation in the country by first declaring the case as a Public Health Emergency.

The Ministry also engaged with Emergence Operations Committee meetings while a risk assessment of the situation was being done with support from partners such as the WHO and at the same time working very closely with neighbouring countries since the diseases know no borders.

In joining the strategies put in place by the Ministry, the WHO and the America Centre for Disease Control (CDC) both applauded Malawi for having strong health surveillance systems which saw the country to have no polio case for the past 30 years.

This was said when Deputy Minister of Health, Enock Phale held a polio update press conference in the company of WHO Country Representative, Dr. Janet Kayita; acting UN Resident Coordinator, Rudolf Schwenk and CDC Country Director, Dr Kesley Mirkovic soon after the single reported case.

While commending Malawi for having strong surveillance systems for all these years, Kayita urged parents of children under the age of 15 to take them and receive routine polio vaccines to contain further spread of the disease from the lone case that has been identified.

Phale had urged political, religious and community leaders to support government in encouraging their communities to take part in the Polio eradication activities by taking their children for the routine polio immunization and for the supplemental polio immunizations which will start soon.

People most commonly contract polio when they drink water that is contaminated with the faeces of someone who carries the virus. Children under the age of five and those living in areas with poor sanitation are most at risk.

In the UNICEF statement, Mohamed M. Fall is quoted as saying: “A regional response is vital as polio is extremely contagious and can spread easily as people move across borders.

“There is no cure for polio, but the vaccine protects children for life. We are working with the World Health Organization and other partners to make sure parents, as well as community and religious leaders, know how important it is that every child receives their vaccine.”

UNICEF has procured more than 36 million doses of polio vaccine for the first two rounds of immunisations of children in Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia and is helping to prepare the following response:

* In Malawi, UNICEF is installing 270 new vaccine refrigerators, repairing vaccine refrigerators and distributing 800 remote temperature monitoring devices, vaccine carriers and cold boxes. In partnership with the World Health Organization, UNICEF has trained 13,500 health workers and volunteers, 34 district health promotion officers and 50 faith leaders.

* In Mozambique, UNICEF has procured 2,500 vaccine carriers and has delivered 100 cold boxes and is assisting with the swift delivery of vaccines from national to provincial stores.

UNICEF is also supporting the training of 33,000 supervisors and frontline workers on vaccine management and social and behavioural change, as well as training of journalists, distribution of communication materials and broadcasting radio and TV spots to support the polio campaign.

* In Tanzania, UNICEF has trained 2,147 health workers, 5,128 social mobilizers and 538 town criers, and facilitated the procurement of 3,000 vaccine carriers and 360 cold boxes, expected to be delivered in April 2022 for use in the upcoming rounds of campaigns.

* In Zambia, more than 200 trainers are coaching healthcare workers at the provincial and district level, with support from UNICEF and partners. District officials have been trained on polio surveillance, in partnership with the World Health Organization.

At a press conference on Thursday, Blantyre district health officer, Dr. Gift Kawalazila said their campaign will run in disregard to child polio status, meaning those already vaccined are also supposed to be vaccinated once again.

He thus urged various stakeholders to cooperate with heath workers  who will be moving door to door; at health facilities and other destinated places for the campaign to be successful. The campaign for Blantyre is targeting about 239,463 under-5 children.