Governor, leaders wage war against Polio

The Governor of the Centre Region, Joseph Wilson Otto, political, religious and civil society leaders have waged an all-out war against poliomyelitis that causes paralysis in children.

The leaders sounded the war trumpet during a two-day forum at the Yaounde Conference Centre that ended on January 20.

Hinged on the theme, “Together for a polio-free Cameroon,” the forum brought together mayors, traditional rulers, health official, Members of Parliament, administrators and other stakeholders.

After having examined the stubborn nature of the polio virus in the Region, the leaders resolved to kick polio out of their various areas of jurisdiction.

Chairing the opening of the forum, the Governor called on all stakeholders to keep polio at bay. He said the forum was an advocacy bid for an all-inclusive partnership for the eradication of polio in the Region.

He said Cameroon registered two cases of the wild polio virus in October 2014, and these cases were discovered in the Yoko and Djoungolo districts of the Centre Region.

Going by the Governor, polio can only be eradicated in the Region when every stakeholder is fully implicated. He urged them to promote routine vaccination campaigns so as to eradicate the disease in the various health districts. He said the forum was tailored to form a powerful synergy of various actors to wage war against polio in the Region.

According to the Centre Regional Delegate of Public Health, Therese Nkoa, the leaders are expected to surmount all the obstacles that impede the onslaught against the polio virus in the area.

“When authorities talk people listen. So, even people who have refused to allow their children for vaccination will better be convinced by the Governor, SDO, Mayors, MPs and other leaders,” she remarked.

She said access to certain areas where vaccination is supposed to be carried is so difficult that only administrators and other leaders can solve the problem.

While addressing the forum, the representative of the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund, UNICEF in Cameroon, Felicité Tchibindat, said the fight for the eradication of polio was at a very critical stage.

The involvement of Governors and all stakeholders remains essential, both in the coordination and the supervision at operational level, she remarked “The involvement of Governors is an essential success factor for coordination, monitoring and search for solutions to problems plaguing the full gamut of the vaccination campaign,” she insisted.

She said by reducing the number of unvaccinated children, the stakeholders would help to avoid the risk of the spread of the disease.

“A Cameroon polio-free is within our reach. It is the greatest gift we can give our children in 2015. Even if technical problems exist, when vaccines are available, we must mobilise to vaccinate children during and in- between polio campaigns.

Let us make sure that our children and our grandchildren have received all the vaccinations before their first birthday”.

The UNICEF boss said the number of children that have been missed during the vaccination campaigns in the Centre Region, stands at six percent, whereas, it is not supposed to exceed percent percent. She said about 95 percent of parents should be informed every time before a vaccination campaign is carried out. But statistics, she said, indicate that only 90 percent of parents are informed.

She said all measures should be taken to kick polio out of Cameroon because the virus was not only threatening Cameroon children, but also children from neighbouring countries.

The UNICEF boss announced the arrival of officials of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in the country. They would be assessing the progress of the polio vaccination campaigns which the foundation has been bankrolling.

The MP for the Nyong & Kelle Constituency, Hon. Pierre Sende, said he would ring the alarm bell and tell his people that; “two drops of the polio vaccine keeps the child from being paralysed.”

Another participant, the Mayor of Yaounde II, Luc Assamba, called on her colleagues to sound the drum of the polio vaccination campaigns in their areas.