By William Garang
The Ministry of Health has launched a door-to-door campaign to administer the oral polio vaccine to over 3.3 million children aged 0-59 months across ten states and three administrative areas.
Supported by the WHO and UNICEF, this initiative is part of the Global Polio Eradication drive. Dr. George Awzenio Legge, Director of the Ministry’s Extended Program on Immunization (EPI), stated the campaign responds to recent outbreaks in parts of the country.
“This campaign, we are targeting 3.3 million children all the country, [there are] 80 counties that have been targeted for this campaign,” said Legge.
“When there is an outbreak like this because we are not able to reach or all the mothers not able to bring their children for the vaccinations, this is why we are doing a campaign,” he added.
The EPI Director explained that mothers are supposed to take their children to health facilities, but because they are not able to come, the health ministry decided to do house-to-house vaccinations to raise infants’ immunity.
He urged parents and guardians to cooperate with the polio vaccination team, adding every child must vaccinated to stop the ailment.
“This vaccination campaign is an important step in our mission to ensure polio, a disease that can be completely prevented, doesn’t threaten any child’s life. This effort shows our strong commitment to ensuring that no child is at risk of polio.” said Dr Humphrey Karamagi, WHO Representative for South Sudan
UNICEF Representative in South Sudan, Hamida Lasseko cites that, “Every child has the right to grow up free from preventable diseases, and polio is one of the most dangerous yet entirely avoidable illnesses.”she added.
“UNICEF reiterates its commitment to support the Ministry of Health and partners in delivering vaccines to every part of South Sudan so that no child is left vulnerable to polio.”
Polio, or poliomyelitis, is a highly infectious disease caused by the poliovirus, which attacks the nervous system and can lead to paralysis or even death, often affecting muscles in the arms and legs.
In December 2023, South Sudan confirmed an outbreak of circulating Vaccine-Derived Polio Virus Type 2 (cVDPV2), declaring it a “Public Health Emergency.”
In response, two nationwide vaccination campaigns in February and April 2024 successfully immunized 3.3 million children aged 0 to 59 months in each round to curb the resurgence of the disease.