Sudan: New jabs to protect children against Polio

Millions of children will be given jabs to protect them against Polio after Sudan reported 45 new cases of the disease. The country yesterday announced a new campaign to vaccinate 8.5 million children against the highly infectious disease. "We have 40 cases in south Sudan and five reported in February and March in south Sudan," the World Health Organisation’s Salah Haithami told Reuters news agency.

The outbreak is under control and the United Nations and the North East African country’s government will start vaccinating children at the end of the month. Children under 5 years old are the most affected by the virus which once left many children partially paralysed. The virus attacks the nervous system and in one in 200 cases, it can leave patients paralysed and 5-10 per cent of these die because their breathing muscles fail. It is transmitted through contaminated food, drinking water, faeces and swimming pool water. Vaccination is the only effective way to prevent it. Babies in the UK are routinely vaccinated and booster doses are given to children before they start school and after they leave.

Mass immunisation campaigns in the 20th century almost completely wiped out the virus. Sudan was free of polio until 2004 when an outbreak spread from north Sudan causing 1,200 cases worldwide, sparking a $150 million emergency response. The country, one of Africa’s largest and is considered a high risk for spreading the virus internationally because it borders nine countries, according to the WHO. After Sudan’s latest wave of cases were reported, The International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC) warned polio is spreading again in 14 countries across Africa, including in areas where the disease had once been eradicated. "We have clear indications that polio is spreading again, including in countries such as Uganda, which had been polio-free for more than a decade," said Tammam Aloudat, an IFRC expert on emergencies.

An outbreak that had been confined to southern Sudan and western Ethiopia had recently spread to Kenya, Uganda and northern Sudan, the group reported. In the past, polio originating from eastern Africa had spread, it said probably because of the busy seaports there, to Gulf states and countries as far away as Indonesia. The outbreak had also moved to the Democratic Republic of Congo and neighbouring countries. Polio today is mostly confined to Afghanistan, India, Nigeria and Pakistan. International efforts to combat its spread has cut cases by 99 per cent in 10 years - a drop of more than 350,000 cases in 1998 to about 1,600 in 2008.

By Hayley Jarvis for SOS Children