UNICEF and WHO launch polio vaccination campaign in Yemen – Amman Newspaper

SANA & A, Nov 27 (Reuters) – Relief agencies have launched a polio vaccination campaign for up to 5 million children under five in Yemen, whose health care system is paralyzed by the war that has been raging for three years.
The three-day campaign, organized by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Houthi Ministry of Health, controls most of the most populated the country, where millions of people face a famine that makes them more vulnerable to the disease.
"The campaign comes at a very sensitive time," said UNICEF Representative for UNICEF Mirtexel Relano.
"The lack of a fully functioning health care system and the spread of malnutrition have greatly reduced the risk of preventable diseases."
"It is very important that all parties to the conflict allow this essential vaccine to reach all children from north to south and from east to west, without any hindrance," she said.Save the Children said last week about 85,000 children under five were starving.
In 2009, Yemen was declared polio-free. But experts say conflict-affected countries are particularly vulnerable to disease outbreaks because of the disruption of their health systems.
Yemen conducted a vaccination campaign in February 2017 to prevent polio, which is spreading rapidly among children.
In the capital, Sanaa, under the control of the Huthis, nurses began to vaccinate children by mouth in the streets, some crying and trying to escape.
A black pen was marked on the fingers of the children who had been vaccinated with white chalk on the doors of the houses covered by the vaccination campaign.
Abdo Ahmed Ali, a resident of Sanaa, said, "Thank God for these vaccination teams, especially in these difficult circumstances, the citizen needs the riyal, they go home to each house, transport them and give them some effort. So, thank them for our hearts. "
The World Health Organization (WHO) said last month that Yemen had the worst cholera outbreak in the world, with 10,000 suspected cases each week.
According to her, 16% of cholera cases in Yemen occurred in the coastal town of Hodeidah, where the war is now concentrated and half of the health facilities are unused.

(Reuters)

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