3.5mil made polio safe

More than 3.5 million children were vaccinated through a multi-stakeholder partnership involving the Government, the United Nations (UN) and civil society organisations, according to the UN.
UN resident coordinator Gianluca Rampolla, when addressing the partners at the joint UN annual review, said the polio vaccination campaign reached 97 per cent of children aged under 15 years last year and thanked the government and partners for their support.
“The UN is supporting the Department of Health in the second round of polio vaccination to ensure that 10 years down the line we do not have another outbreak of polio or any other communicable diseases,” he said.
Rampolla said 2018 has been a challenging year with two national emergencies declared – the Highlands earthquake and the polio outbreak where US$41.4 million (K139.62m) was been allocated in response to these relief programmes.
“Building on the experience and challenges we have faced last year, UN plans to spend US$87.6 million, an increase of US$5.5 million (K18.549mil)from the previous year in its programmes,” he said.
“The largest allocations are in areas of census, health, climate action, gender equality, peace and justice.”
Minister for National Planning Richard Maru thanked the UN for its leadership and saluted all donor partners who supported many of the programmes last year. Maru said the government would work closely with UN and its partners on its focus priorities this year.
This annual review is the first after four years.