Yemen: Five Million Children Vaccinated Against Poliomyelitis

The national polio vaccination campaign ends Wednesday in several provinces of Yemen after the vaccine was administered to 5 million children under five years old.

"The campaign launched since the interim political capital of Aden has targeted more than five million previously vaccinated and newly born children and children under five," said Ali Al-Walidi, Under-Secretary at the Ministry of Health.

He explained to the "new Arab", "The campaign was conducted by 2650 fixed teams and 18768 mobile teams, and provided 6 million and 804,000 doses of vaccine to strengthen the immunity of children against the disease."

The ministry is in contact with the directors of health offices in the governorates under the authority of the Houthi group. "The vaccines, as well as the rights of campaigners, were distributed through the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF, as well as through coordination with the field teams in the country.

Health workers complained of abuse and corruption during the campaign. A nurse from a public health center in Sana'a governorate said that the health director had written off her name and that other colleagues had not exposed the campaign agents as field supervisors and had replaced by people who have nothing to do with health and field work, despite the need for such work. Salary reductions for more than two years.

She pointed out to the "new Arab" that "office managers and immunization supervisors view these campaigns as a way to collect significant financial gains regardless of the success or failure of the campaign." participants are manipulated by reducing the number of field teams, which allocated 8,000 Yemeni riyals per day Field worker and 11,000 Yemeni riyals per day for team leaders Activists put false names and join reports to collect financial contributions.

On her Facebook page, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that she was leading this campaign in cooperation with UNICEF and local health authorities to "prevent any possible return." of the virus, which constitutes a major threat to Yemen ". Noting that polio first affects children under five, that no treatment is needed and that the vaccine can protect the child against life-long illness.