Raymond Baguma
6 October 2009
Kampala — UGANDA is to carry out a second round of polio immunisation in the north-eastern region after an outbreak of the virus in neighbouring Kenya, a senior health official has said.
Dr. Possy Mugyenyi, the programme manager of the Uganda National Expanded Programme for Immunisation, recently said the exercise, scheduled for later this month, is aimed at preventing polio from spreading into Uganda.
He said children in the districts of northern Uganda bordering southern Sudan, where cases have been reported, will also be immunised.
Mugyenyi said Uganda has intensified its polio campaign to ensure that the disease does not spread.
"Since May this year, we have not seen any new case of polio in Uganda. If we had not been serious, we would have had many cases," he said.
Mugyenyi said the Horn of Africa countries at a recent meeting in Kenyan agreed on an action plan to fight the disease.
"We will have regular cross-border meetings. We will also synchronise the immunisation exercises to reduce the possibility of the virus harbouring in any particular community," Mugyenyi said.
The last mass polio immunisation exercise in the country was launched in June, following the spread of the disease from southern Sudan.
The spread was confirmed on February 25 after a 16-month-old baby tested positive. This was 12 years after the last case of the disease was reported in the country.
In October 2006, Uganda had been certified by the World Health Organisation to be polio-free after a 10-year zero-case record.
Polio, a globally diminishing disease, is common in India and parts of West and Central Africa. A child infected with the virus presents with acute fever and weak limbs.
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