[ad_1]
The Ashanti region has registered eight cases of polio in six districts, more than any other region in the country since the beginning of this year.
The cases, all of the type two polio virus derived from the vaccine, represent more than 80% of the 12 cases registered in the whole country.
Although health authorities will not give details of the affected districts, they say the situation requires public support as an ambiguous three-day immunization program is implemented targeting around 1.2 million children under the age of five.
“The Ashanti region recently registered in six districts what we call type two vaccine-derived poliovirus. And according to the established protocol, the region, along with other regions of the country, would embark on a massive polio immunization exercise, ”the Deputy Regional Director of Health in charge of Public Health told the media in Kumasi , Dr. Yaw Ofori Yeboah.
The situation has prompted health authorities to implement a three-day immunization program throughout the Region from September 10 to 13.
The regional deputy director of health in charge of public health, Dr. Yaw Ofori Yeboah, asked parents to use their children under 5 years for the administration of a safe vaccine in the 43 districts of the Ashanti region.
“The focus would be for children under the age of five. In the Ashanti region, we would target 1,184,860 children under the age of five ”.
The affected districts are said to be areas characterized by low immunization and unsanitary conditions.
Dr. Ofori Yeboah admits that the advent of Covid-19, which has affected routine health services in the region, could be to blame for the situation.
He wants all hands to get to work to start the immunization exercise.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization says some polioviruses have been discovered in Greater Accra and the eastern region.
Immunization Officer Fred Osei Sarpong revealed that poliovirus was found in environmental sewage in those areas and they talk about investigations into the virus.
“What we are also doing is apart from the fact that the virus can infect an individual and leave him paralyzed; the virus is generally found in the environment, so to be sure we don’t have the virus with us, we take samples from the environmental wastewater, send it to the laboratory and then analyze it. “
