A three-day United Nations-backed Polio immunization campaign began in Southern Sudan on Monday in response to the recent outbreak of the disease after being free from Polio for last three years. The region experienced the last outbreak in 2008 when 60 infections were confirmed among children at that time, leaving them very vulnerable to the disease since few had previously received routine immunization. The current campaign is targeting children under the age of five and is an attempt to increase awareness among local population to understand the importance of meeting the full dosage of the vaccine.
The campaign has been organized by the Government of Southern Sudan in collaboration with UNICEF, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). It can be noted that, Southern Sudan voted in January to secede from Sudan and is scheduled to become an independent nation on 9th July.
-Nisha Noor
