General
Source: Daily Observer
The Ministry of Heath and Social Welfare, in partnership with Unicef and the World Health Organisation (WHO), recently organised a day's sensitisation forum for lady councillors and chiefs in the Lower River Region on the nation-wide polio immunisation campaign.
The forum was held at the Governor's Office in Mansakonko, Jarra West District of the Lower River Region.
Speaking at the forum, Abu Njie, the deputy governor of Lower River Region, commended the Gambia government under the leadership of His Excellency Sheikh Professor Alhaji Dr Yahya Jammeh for putting health as a priority. According to him, the health delivery system in The Gambia is now closer to the people than ever before, thanks to President Jammeh.
He also thanked government and partners for eradicating polio in The Gambia, while describing the efforts taken by them to make the country free from polio as a step in the right direction.
DG Njie went on to call on the people, especially parents of the region, to collaborate with the Ministry of Health and partners by allowing all the targeted children to be immunized.
Lamin Cessay, an officer at the Expanded Programme on Immunization unit, under the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, explained that polio is a disease caused by a virus which kills and cripples many children for life. He informed that one can catch polio if one drinks water or food contaminated with the faeces of an infected person.
He went on to highlight the signs and symptoms, the main one being fever, which can quickly progress into weakness of the limbs. The affected limbs, he added, will remain paralyzed for life.
Ceesay further informed that polio has no cure but could be prevented through vaccination; hence the reason The Gambia government and partners want all children from 0-5 years to be immunized during the four-day excise across the country.
The nation-wide immunization days, Ceesay noted further, is meant to supplement the routine immunization programme of the Ministry of Heath and Social Welfare. He said vaccinators will be moving from house to house to administer the droplets of the vaccine on a free basis to children in The Gambia.
The health officer reminded that The Gambia is polio-free and would want to maintain that trend by taking preventive measures through its health service delivery system. He however pointed out that
the country might be polio-free but neighbours within the sub-region of West Africa are not polio-free; that the disease still continues to kill and cripple many children in those countries. "This is the reason why this sensitization meeting is organised; for you the participants at the Governor's Office to know about the nation-wide immunization days and to participate," he noted.
Pa Ousman Manneh, Unicef communication officer for development, disclosed that this year an estimation of 401,299 children are expected to be vaccinated in the nation-wide polio immunization. He said it is a right for all these children to be vaccinated so as to protect them against polio and its effects.
The Unicef communication officer for development revealed that the coverage for last year's polio campaign was 98% and the level of awareness of the campaign was 90%, noting that both indicators are good. He called on the participants to spread the message to make the campaign a success.
For his part, Demba Sanyang, the chief of Kiang Central District, assured the organisers that they would do their best to ensure that parents across their various localities are informed of the campaign.
He thanked President Jammeh for his efforts in health promotion in the country.