Luanda - Health authorities launched on Friday the first phase of a three-day polio vaccination campaign in Luanda to cover all over the country.
Launched by the Secretary of State for Public Health, Carlos Pinto de Sousa.The operation plans to vaccinate 5.5 million children between the ages of zero and five.
According to the National Director of Public Health, Helga Freitas, the campaign to be carried out in two phases, is due to the confirmation, on January 25 this year by the World Health Organization’s Reference Laboratory in South Africa, of the existence of vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (PVDV2) in environmental samples of sewage water collected in Luanda.
The official added that the vaccination campaign strategy will be door-to-door and at the usual posts, such as health centers, schools, kindergarten and markets.
Helga Freitas said the eradication of polio is a global and national commitment to protect children's health and keep the country free of this disease, having urged people with children of vaccination age to take them to the posts or let the vaccinators carry out their work without embarrassment when they go to their homes.
Luanda has not recorded cases of wild poliovirus since 2010, when one was reported in the municipality of Cazenga.
A total of 11,300 brigade members will be involved and mobilized for this campaign.MCN/TED/AMP
