Kids and mums turn up for life-saving treatment

Main Stories

LOCALS including children and mothers turned up at the local Oliguti market in Lufa, Eastern Highlands, to witness the launch of the round one of the 2019 life-saving polio vaccination campaign.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) and its partners the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef), the Health Department and the Eastern Highlands Health Authority chose to launch the campaign at Lufa as it was the district that was identified with the first polio case.
WHO director for the Western Pacific region Dr Takashi Kasai said it is every ones business to stand up and fight against the dreaded disease.
“We have eradicated the polio virus in the country some 20 years ago. And the virus has returned and an outbreak has been declared in the Eastern Highlands, Morobe, Madang and the Enga provinces. And again we are tasked to tackle the virus and finish it from spreading in these provinces and the country once and for all.
“To do that we all have to put out heads together and make it our business to fight and eradicate polio in our provinces and country as well,” Kasai said.
The province has a target of 263,000 children to be captured during the round one vaccination campaign period.
However a target population of 267,000 is expected to be covered in the 2019 polio vaccination campaign period in the province.
With that huge number of children, Kasai encouraged mothers from all areas in the eight districts to bring their children from zero y to fifteen years old for polio vaccination as well as the routine immunisation.
Straight after the launching, Dr Kasai was driven to the nearby Nupuru Health Centre and volunteered to administer polio vaccines and taken for a tour of the health facility.