Polio: Help on the way

SOUTH AFRICA and Botswana are ready to send medical personnel to Namibia to help with the massive polio vaccination campaign that starts on June 21, Health Minister Dr Richard Kamwi said yesterday.

Also yesterday, Kam­wi visited 31 patients in Ward 5A of the Katutura Hospital and was told that one more polio patient had died, while another had been discharged. The latest fatality brings the number of polio deaths to eight.Two more people are set to be be discharged today.There were no new admissions over the weekend.Yesterday Kamwi spoke to patients and encouraged them to start exercising.Many of them are already undergoing physiotherapy.While moving from one bed to another, Kamwi noticed that women were more positive about fighting the disease.Two children in the ward were running around, showing signs that they had moved away from immediate polio danger.Kamwi told The Namibian that South African Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang had contacted him personally to offer vaccine, materials and staff while her counterpart in Botswana Sheila Dinotshe Tlou had also offered to assist.”All is set.We are just waiting for the vaccine to arrive.Even the external Red Cross has offered assistance and we are very grateful for that,” the Minister said.Internationally, Kamwi said, United Nations agencies were now at the forefront of those giving assistance and were “very visible”.The monovalent Oral Polio Vaccine (mOPV) that will be administered during the mass-immunisation campaign will arrive in Namibia on Friday.The first round of the State-sponsored drive to immunise every Namibian against polio will take place for three days starting from June 21.The second round has been set for July 18 to 20 and the third round, which will only include children under the age of five years, is scheduled for August 20 to 24.Round three will include polio and measles vaccinations as well as vitamin A supplementation.Last week Government ordered private health institutions to stop administering trivalent Oral Polio Vaccine (tOPV), stating it was only for children under five years and reduced the immune response to the right mOPV.The outbreak was confirmed as wild poliovirus type one.A similar type polio case was detected in Angola last year – it was of Indian origin.By the end of last week the number of people killed by the virus was seven.It is now eight.Those suspected of being infected reached 39, with a new case reported in the Oshikoto Region.Kamwi said yesterday that his Ministry would release the latest information on new cases and the mass-immunisation and education campaign today after he and Health Permanent Secretary Dr Kalumbi Shangula had met with members of the Health Emergency Unit.Its Chairperson, Dr Jack Vries, said polio experts have been brought in and the Ministry was ready to deal with the disease.”We got to the bottom of this (disease) but we can only reveal everything after we meet tomorrow morning,” he said.He referred all inquiries to Shangula who could not be reached for comment yesterday.Government will need N$27 million to immunise two million Namibians.Last week Shangula urged Namibians to remain calm.He emphasised that the disease was not an airborne virus.The first polio case arrived at Windhoek’s Katutura Hospital from Aranos in the south on May 10.Shangula said they had decided to immunise every Namibian because those so far infected were mostly older than 14 years.He said anyone who experienced polio symptoms should immediately go to their nearest health institution for treatment.The latest fatality brings the number of polio deaths to eight.Two more people are set to be be discharged today.There were no new admissions over the weekend.Yesterday Kamwi spoke to patients and encouraged them to start exercising.Many of them are already undergoing physiotherapy.While moving from one bed to another, Kamwi noticed that women were more positive about fighting the disease.Two children in the ward were running around, showing signs that they had moved away from immediate polio danger.Kamwi told The Namibian that South African Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang had contacted him personally to offer vaccine, materials and staff while her counterpart in Botswana Sheila Dinotshe Tlou had also offered to assist. “All is set.We are just waiting for the vaccine to arrive.Even the external Red Cross has offered assistance and we are very grateful for that,” the Minister said.Internationally, Kamwi said, United Nations agencies were now at the forefront of those giving assistance and were “very visible”.The monovalent Oral Polio Vaccine (mOPV) that will be administered during the mass-immunisation campaign will arrive in Namibia on Friday.The first round of the State-sponsored drive to immunise every Namibian against polio will take place for three days starting from June 21.The second round has been set for July 18 to 20 and the third round, which will only include children under the age of five years, is scheduled for August 20 to 24.Round three will include polio and measles vaccinations as well as vitamin A supplementation.Last week Government ordered private health institutions to stop administering trivalent Oral Polio Vaccine (tOPV), stating it was only for children under five years and reduced the immune response to the right mOPV.The outbreak was confirmed as wild poliovirus type one.A similar type polio case was detected in Angola last year – it was of Indian origin.By the end of last week the number of people killed by the virus was seven.It is now eight.Those suspected of being infected reached 39, with a new case reported in the Oshikoto Region.Kamwi said yesterday that his Ministry would release the latest information on new cases and the mass-immunisation and education campaign today after he and Health Permanent Secretary Dr Kalumbi Shangula had met with members of the Health Emergency Unit.Its Chairperson, Dr Jack Vries, said polio experts have been brought in and the Ministry was ready to deal with the disease.”We got to the bottom of this (disease) but we can only reveal everything after we meet tomorrow morning,” he said.He referred all inquiries to Shangula who could not be reached for comment yesterday.Government will need N$27 million to immunise two million Namibians.Last week Shangula urged Namibians to remain calm.He emphasised that the disease was not an airborne virus.The first polio case arrived at Windhoek’s Katutura Hospital from Aranos in the south on May 10.Shangula said they had decided to immunise every Namibian because those so far infected were mostly older than 14 years.He said anyone who experienced polio symptoms should immediately go to their nearest health institution for treatment.