By Emmanuel Opio
Kapelebyong, UG):- Authorities in Kapelebyong District have intensified conducting mass awareness campaigns in a bid to successfully execute the forthcoming polio vaccination exercise.
In its preparations, the district health department has organised various stakeholder meetings involving religious leaders, cultural leaders, the village health teams, local council leaders, health workers, Assistant Chief Administrative Officers and Parish Intelligence Security Officers (PISOs).
The meetings are focused on raising awareness about the importance of embracing and supporting the exercise scheduled for October 3th-6th, 2024.
Sr. Edith Abeja, the District Health Educator for Kapelebyong, stressed that the polio vaccination campaign is a noble course that every stakeholder should citizen should popularise.
According to her, the ministry targets to vaccinate children below five years of age.
“The virus was detected in Mbale and it’s the reason all nearby districts have been earmarked for this exercise. Polio is a deadly disease that all of us should guard against,” Sr. Abeja said.
While emphasising that the exercise will be conducted door to door, Sr. Abeja noted that Kapelebyong district targets to vaccinate over 23,000 children. The district has lined up 44 teams to conduct the polio vaccination exercise.
Countrywide, Uganda targets to vaccinate 2.7 million children against polio in Busoga, Mbale, Bukedi, Teso, Karamoja and Sebei Subregions.
The polio vaccination campaign is supported by World Health Organisation (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
Uganda is not new to mass polio vaccination campaigns. The most recent one took place from 14 to 18 January 2022, using a door-to-door strategy.
By the end of the six-day campaign, a total of 9,768,697 children in 136 districts had received the nOPV2 vaccine out of 8,791,710 targeted children, representing a national coverage of 111.1%.
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