Somalia Launches Polio Campaign

Somalia will this month launch a polio immunisation campaign across the country. Children in high-risk areas, including Somaliland and Puntland, will be targeted.

Its launch comes following recent outbreaks of two strains of the virus. It will consist of two rounds of immunisation delivering monovalent oral vaccine type 2. 

The campaign follows efforts earlier this year to vaccinate children against type 1 and 3 polioviruses.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) the Global Polio Eradication Initiative has saved 10 million children from paralysis, as the virus affects nerve cells that control the muscles and is an incurable disease that can also result in death.

Somalia, along with Ethiopia, is one of the 10 worst affected countries in the world by the disease, which has bee largely eradicated in developed countries.