Nairobi, Sep 30 (IANS) Kenya’s Ministry of Health on Monday announced a five-day vaccination campaign targeting 3.84 million children under ten years of age to protect them against polio.
In an effort to prevent the spread of the mutant poliovirus type 2, as many as 2.02 million children under the age of ten and 1.82 million children under the age of five will receive polio vaccinations starting from Wednesday.
Mary Muriuki, principal secretary in the Ministry of Health, said that the campaign will be conducted in high-risk regions across Kenya.
She said that Kenya is responding to an outbreak of circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2, which has been detected in four children living in the Kakuma refugee camp in northwest Kenya, as well as in the neighbouring host population, Xinhua news agency reported.
According to the health official, a polio type 2-positive sewage sample was discovered in Nairobi County during environmental surveillance, indicating that the virus has spread beyond its original areas.
Muriuki said that the Ministry of Health has alerted all high-risk counties to remain vigilant, with a particular focus on counties in Kenya, due to the detection of type 2 polio in Uganda’s Mbale District.
–IANS
int/jk/rad
