Mass immunisation against polio successful, says Kamwi

HEALTH Minister Dr Richard Kamwi says early indicators suggest that last week’s first round of the mass polio immunisation campaign provided “excellent results”.

“Truly speaking, I am very happy with the outcome. In some cases such as Oshakati we had well over 105 per cent coverage.No region worked below 80 per cent coverage,” said Kamwi yesterday.He said what remained was just mopping up.”We learnt many lessons.Now we know more about the movement of the population and in which areas to expect more people for the second round,” he said.The first round took place last week from Wednesday to Friday and hundreds of thousands received two drops of monovalent Oral Polio Vaccine (mOPV) vaccine.By the end of last week the number of people infected by the wild poliovirus had reached 130 while the deaths remained at 14.The second round has been set for July 18 to 20.Everyone who received the drops will be expected to turn up for the second round.The third round, which will only include children under the age of five years, is scheduled for August 20 to 24.This will include polio and measles vaccinations as well as vitamin A supplementation.Kamwi said foreign health experts who helped with last week’s vaccination campaign in the regions will meet Health Permanent Secretary Dr Kalumbi Shangula today and they will have a good idea about the total coverage by tomorrow.Last week, members of the Cabinet special task force also visited regions to conduct polio information and awareness campaigns.Among those were Deputy Prime Minister Dr Libertina Amathila, Education Minister Nangolo Mbumba, Environment Minister Willem Konjore and Safety Minister Peter Tsheehama.Government targeted to immunise two million people, including visitors.Unicef flew in 2,5 million doses of the vaccine.In some cases such as Oshakati we had well over 105 per cent coverage.No region worked below 80 per cent coverage,” said Kamwi yesterday.He said what remained was just mopping up.”We learnt many lessons.Now we know more about the movement of the population and in which areas to expect more people for the second round,” he said.The first round took place last week from Wednesday to Friday and hundreds of thousands received two drops of monovalent Oral Polio Vaccine (mOPV) vaccine.By the end of last week the number of people infected by the wild poliovirus had reached 130 while the deaths remained at 14.The second round has been set for July 18 to 20.Everyone who received the drops will be expected to turn up for the second round.The third round, which will only include children under the age of five years, is scheduled for August 20 to 24.This will include polio and measles vaccinations as well as vitamin A supplementation.Kamwi said foreign health experts who helped with last week’s vaccination campaign in the regions will meet Health Permanent Secretary Dr Kalumbi Shangula today and they will have a good idea about the total coverage by tomorrow.Last week, members of the Cabinet special task force also visited regions to conduct polio information and awareness campaigns.Among those were Deputy Prime Minister Dr Libertina Amathila, Education Minister Nangolo Mbumba, Environment Minister Willem Konjore and Safety Minister Peter Tsheehama.Government targeted to immunise two million people, including visitors.Unicef flew in 2,5 million doses of the vaccine.