Somalia begins a national polio vaccination campaign.

Somalia begins a national polio vaccination campaign.

The WHO Representative in Somalia, Dr. Mamunur Rahman Malik, and the Governor and Mayor of Mogadishu, HE Omar Mohamed Mohamud Flish, officially inaugurated a countrywide immunisation campaign against polio in Somalia on Tuesday.

Adam Abdelmoula, Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General and United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, was also present at the kickoff on Wednesday.

To officially inaugurate the national vaccination day and vaccinate children against polio, the delegation visited a camp for internally displaced persons in Manahijta and Waberi health centre in Banadir city.

Except for Puntland and Somaliland, the country's continuing polio vaccination campaign targets over 3.5 million children under the age of five. The first round of the polio vaccination campaign was held in March, with about 95 percent of the 3.5 million children under the age of five receiving an oral polio vaccine.

Since 2015, Somalia has been free of wild poliovirus transmission. However, another strain of poliovirus, circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2, infected the country (cVDPV2). A number of youngsters in Somalia have been paralysed and disabled as a result of this strain, which first circulated in the country in 2017.

"So far, 32 children have been permanently paralysed or disabled as a result of the polio outbreak caused by vaccine-derived type 2 and type 3 virus. "This implies that young children are unable to run, walk, or play as they should," Adam Abdelmoula, Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General and UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, explained.

"It is a moral imperative for us to eradicate polio in Somalia and the rest of the world." We want to ensure that every kid born today lives a healthy life and has equitable access to health care. The threat of polio in one country is a threat elsewhere in this linked and globalised world," he warned.

The vaccine-derived poliovirus circulates in an environment where childhood polio vaccination is not routinely administered, and as a result, children's immunity to polio remains low. This novel strain of poliovirus has established itself in central and southern Somalia, with spillover resulting in cross-border transmission in northern Somalia, Kenya, and Ethiopia.

Inaccessibility is another major roadblock to reaching every child in the country. Other complicating issues, such as regular population movement within and between inaccessible areas and refugee camps in Somalia and neighbouring countries (particularly Kenya), are stymieing development.

"The main problem in not being able to stop the spread of this type of poliovirus in the country is the fragile health sector's inability to reach and vaccinate all children, particularly the "zero-dose" children who have never been vaccinated and have no immunisation shield to protect them," said WHO Representative in Somalia, Dr Sk Md Mamunur Rahman Malik.

These national vaccination days, according to Malik, provide an opportunity to find every single child and vaccinate them with an oral polio drop.

"We are hopeful that by working together and ensuring that we employ speed and precision to vaccinate all children targeted for such campaigns against polio and measles, the country will be able to overcome this virus and the terrible disease it produces," he added.