MIDEAST: Palestinian children receive polio vaccine as part of mass campaign following Syria outbreak

Record ID: 342976

  • Title: MIDEAST: Palestinian children receive polio vaccine as part of mass campaign following Syria outbreak
  • Date: 9th December 2013
  • Summary: RAMALLAH, WEST BANK (DECEMBER 8, 2013) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF NEWS CONFERENCE WHERE PALESTINIAN MINISTER OF HEALTH JAWAD AWAD LAUNCHED POLIO IMMUNISATION CAMPAIGN AWAD AT CONFERENCE PEOPLE CLAPPING (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) JAWAD AWAD, PALESTINIAN MINISTER OF HEALTH, SAYING: "Today we launched the national campaign for polio immunisation and it will last until Thursday evening
  • Embargoed: 24th December 2013 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Gaza
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA46BKG8690LE6GC27G5Q8A5UF8
  • Story Text: Palestinian Minister of Health Jawad Awad launched on Sunday (December 8) a campaign to keep the West Bank and Gaza free of polio.
    The health campaign comes as the World Health Organisation launches a mass vaccination programme in the Middle East region following a polio outbreak in Syria.
    Several cases of polio were confirmed last month in Syria, the first polio outbreak there since 1999.
    In the West Bank and Gaza, some 700,000 Palestinian children were set to get vaccinated.
    "Thank God Palestine is clear 100 percent from this disease. We thank the United Nation Children's Fund, World Health Organisation and the Rotary International organisation who funded us to be able to do this campaign," Awad said.
    Polio, a viral illness that can cause paralysis, is considered highly contagious but has been eradicated in most countries since vaccines were developed in the 1950s.
    Children will be vaccinated in countries including Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan as well as the West Bank and Gaza strip, and countries that border Syria.
    In the Gaza Strip Parents took their children to the United Nations Relief And Works Agency (UNRWA) health centres to get the vaccine.
    "Our children mean a lot to us. We should take care of our children and bring them to the clinics to receive the Polio immunisation," said Gaza resident Nael Abu Al Nada.
    Children under five were administered two doses of the vaccine.
    "Polio is a very dangerous disease and affects children who are under five years old. But in recent years none were found to be ill with the disease in the Palestinian territories at all, but we are doing this protectively," said Jamal Elayan, a doctor from Gaza involved in inoculating the children.
    Most children around the world are now vaccinated at an early age with the inactivated poliovirus vaccine (IPV) as part of routine public health policy.
    Last month at least 13 children were confirmed to have the incurable virus in Syria, and they became paralysed.
    The WHO said it expected polio to spread there because of a drop in vaccination rates due to the war.
    Syria's immunization rates have plummeted from more than 90 percent before the conflict to around 68 percent.
    As a response to Syria's outbreak, seven countries and territories were holding mass polio vaccination campaigns, targetting some 22 children, WHO said.
    All countries of the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region have declared polio eradication to be an emergency, WHO also said.
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