Nationwide campaign to kick polio out of the country reached high gear on Friday, October 31, 2014 when a high-level delegation of polio partners from the United States of America, Geneva, the UN Foundation, UNICEF office in New York as well as others from the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the USA, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, World Health Organisation, Gavi Alliance and Cameroon’s Ministry of Public Health went to the Mvog-Betsi Market in the Yaounde VI Sub-division in Yaounde to administer the polio vaccine to children. The campaign targeted some 5,740,457 persons nationwide.
This was during the 9th round of a nationwide campaign launched this year from October 30 to November 2 to vaccinate all children between the ages of 0-5 years in the Centre, Far North, Littoral, North, West, East, South and South-West Regions and from 0 to 10 years in the East and Adamawa Regions especially in the refugee camp where the Minister of Public Health urged everybody (children and adults) to be vaccinated so that upon returning to their countries, they would not be carriers of the Polio virus.
When the Minister of Public Health, André Mama Fouda and the team of partners arrived at the Mvog-Betsi market, school children around the area as well as traders with their babies came around the vaccination box to have their children vaccinated.
The minister told traders, particularly the women, that since they come to the market with their babies, the government and its partners against polio have come to meet the babies where they can be vaccinated against the polio virus of which 9 cases have been registered in the country since October 2013 with the latest case dated July 30, 2014 in the Kette health district in the East Region.
To enable children to be well protected against diseases, the National Immunisation Days was joined with the Second Health and Maternal and Child Nutrition Actions Week. Hence, in addition to the vaccine against polio, the delegation also gave children Vitamin A and Mebendazole for their deworming.
Before the Mvog-Betsi market, André Mama Fouda and the delegation made a stop at the Efoulan neighbourhood in Yaounde where he urged the population to open their doors and present their children for vaccination.
Besides the current vaccination campaign, the Public Health Boss said seven more campaigns will take place until June 2015. On behalf of partners, the Country Representative of WHO, Dr Charlotte Faty Ndiaye said the dream of partners was to see a Cameroon free from polio.
While lauding the efforts of the government of Cameroon, Dr Ndiaye said partners have already disbursed billions to kick polio out of Cameroon and the fight is still on-going. According to partners, hard work and accountability will completely kick polio out of Cameroon.
