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17 September 2009
Religious encouragement to vaccinate against
polio
Leading Islamic academy issues edict
The International Islamic Fiqh Academy (IIFA) has issued a strong
statement encouraging vaccinations against polio as a matter of urgency, and
calls on Ministries of Health in Muslim countries to intensify their efforts to
eradicate polio. The statement calls on parents and guardians - to ensure that
their children benefit from all polio vaccination efforts- and on religious
scholars and mosque leaders to encourage communities to support polio
eradication campaigns.
The edict was researched at the request of the Secretary General of the
Organization of Islamic Conference, H.E. Prof. Ekmelddin Ihsanoglu. The request
reflects the OIC's concern that polio is still endemic in many of its member
states, and addresses the critical need to raise awareness in Muslim communities
about the benefits of polio vaccination campaigns. Quoting extensively from the
Qu'ran, the edict lays out the duty to protect children when disease is
preventable.
Download the text in PDF in Arabic
or English
15 September 2009
WHO International Travel and Health
Recommendations
Polio vaccination recommended
WHO recommends polio vaccination for all travellers to
polio-endemic areas or to countries with recent outbreaks following the
importation of poliovirus. There are currently 25 countries for which WHO
recommends immunization or boosting. Four of the 25 (Afghanistan, India,
Nigeria, Pakistan) remain polio-endemic with indigenous poliovirus circulation.
The remainder have had imported polio cases or cases related to imported
poliovirus in the past 24 months.
More
04 September 2009
WHO African Regional Director urges
strengthened effort
to stop polio in Africa
Dr Sambo re-elected for second term
 4
September 2009, Kigali, Rwanda - Member States of the fifty-ninth Session of
the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Committee for Africa re-elected
incumbent Regional Director, Dr Luís Gomes Sambo, to lead the Regional office
for a second term.
Dr Sambo has been intimately involved in the continent's effort to eradicate
polio. Under his leadership, a series of synchronized, multi-country
immunization campaigns successfully stopped outbreaks in previously polio-free
countries in 2005 and 2006, including across west Africa, and type 1 polio - the
more dangerous strain of the disease - is now at a record-low in the
traditionally-highest risk reservoirs of northern Nigeria. Dr Sambo stressed,
however, the need to do more to achieve a polio-free Africa. Addressing the
health ministers of the Regional Committee, he said: "The African Region has
witnessed a recent setback with increasing numbers of children being paralyzed
by polio in a few countries in the year 2009. In all infected countries, all
under-five children must be reached
during house-to-house vaccination
Luís Gomes Sambo,
campaigns." Dr Sambo's comments were
underlined by WHO
Regional
Director for Africa and Director-General Dr Margaret
Chan, who reminded health ministers
long-timepolio champion.
of the urgent need to finish the job of polio eradication.
Member States were presented with a progress report on polio eradication, which
called on all Member States with resurgent polio to engage political authorities
and civil society to ensure that all eligible children are vaccinated during
routine and supplementary immunization activities. With Nigeria the only country
on the continent to remaining endemic, elsewhere outbreaks are continuing,
including in Angola, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, as well as parts of the
Horn of Africa and west Africa.
04 September 2009
Afghanistan polio team plans for election
period and beyond
 The
polio eradication team in Afghanistan has prepared for months for possible
impacts on activities due to the national elections and continues to adapt
operations to the situation on the ground. Ahead of elections and in keeping
with UN security protocols, international staff moved out of the country.
National staff, however, continued to provide support to the day-to-day
operations of the programme, including surveillance, coordination with NGOs and
vaccine supply matters.
A vaccination campaign for key high-risk districts in Helmand, Kandahar and
Uruzgan is planned for 13-15
© WHO
/ Christopher Black
September, as part of the nation-wide activities
surrounding International Peace Day. It is expected that international staff
will be back in the country in time for this activity. Following the recent
detection of a WPV1 in Western region, this campaign will be expanded to more
districts in both Southern and Western region.
The polio eradication programme continues to monitor the situation closely,
adapting activities, utilizing windows of opportunities as they arise and
responding to UN security directives. The conflict and uncertain security
situation will continue to affect access to all communities, particularly in the
southern region.
As a goal to protect children of all communities from poliovirus, the
eradication programme actively seeks the support of parties on both sides of the
conflict, and the team on ground works hard to maintain that support.
More on
International Peace Day commemorations in Afghanistan
02 September 2009
Aicha, polio, and the rest of her life
The story behind Cote d'Ivoire's first case of polio in 4
years
Just before the New Year of 2009, Aicha's
life changed forever. After a night of fever and pain, by the end of the day she
could not walk, and her parents consulted the village doctor. The test results
came back: polio, a disease that Aicha had not been vaccinated against.
As of end-August, Cote d'Ivoire is one of nine west African countries infected
by a polio virus originating in Nigeria. To stem needless disease and life long
disability door to door immunisation campaigns are being organised in eleven
countries, aiming to reach 74 million children across the region.
Since Aicha's illness there have been 24 more cases of polio in Cote d'Ivoire
this year. Every case was preventable.
Slideshow from the
UNICEF West and Central Africa Region.
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