THE Ministry of Health and Child Care has declared an outbreak of polio in three suburbs of Harare.
The outbreak comes barely a month after the fourth round of the Polio Oral Vaccination campaign which was conducted nationwide. The campaign targeted 2.8 million children less than five years of age.
In a statement, Minister of Health and Child Care Dr Douglas Mombeshora announced that there was a need to activate the Incident Management System urgently to address this development.
“Declare a circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2) outbreak in Harare suburbs of Budiriro, Mbare and Mufakose. Commit, as a matter of urgency, to activate the Incident Management System with an Appointed Incident Manager for Polio response to implement a coordinated outbreak response to quickly contain the outbreak and prevent further spread,” he said.
“Further commit to extending all possible leadership including political advocacy and engagement at all levels for successful coordination and implementation of outbreak response interventions such as vaccination campaigns, strengthened routine immunisation, and enhance polio surveillance.”
Dr Mombeshora also appealed for intervention from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and other organisations through financial and technical support.
Last year, countries such as Burundi, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Zambia reported cases of poliomyelitis. Government has been conducting a vaccination blitz to prevent the outbreak of the crippling disease among young children. Chronicle
