Over 390,000 children vaccinated in KCCA anti-polio campaign

KAMPALA | KCCA | POLIO | VACCINATION

A total of 398,560 children below the age of five were vaccinated against polio in a three-day house-to-house campaign by the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) at the end of last week.

The exercise kicked off last Friday and ended on Sunday.

Dr. Dennis Buluma, the head of health services in the Rubaga division, headed the exercise and revealed that they had targeted 405,760 children across the five divisions of Kampala. 

According to Buluma, the number of children immunized was as follows;

- Makindye division (100,801)

- Lubaga division (96,601)

- Kawempe division (89,315)

- Nakawa division (83,013)

- Kampala Central division (28,830)

Kcca Health team help children receive their polio doses during a three day exercise in the city.

“We have managed to register 114% performance in all the divisions of Kampala, and we shall keep monitoring the provision of efficient and appropriate health screening and treatment to build the health system's resilience,” he said. 

Buluma said the exercise was generally peaceful, and city dwellers responded to the government's call to eradicate polio from Uganda.

The vaccination campaign was supported by the health ministry, the World Health Organization, and other international agency partners. 

"Achieving a polio-free world requires a strong public health system that can respond to public health threats and emergencies affecting populations worldwide," said Buluma.

Alfred Driwale is the assistant commissioner at the Uganda National Expanded Programme on Immunization (UNEPI).

The Assistant Commissioner Uganda National Expanded Program On Immunisation (unepi), Dr. Alfred Drawale Speaking About Polio Vaccination On Monday.

Speaking at the health ministry headquarters on Monday, Driwale said that the poliovirus type 2 was detected in the isolated sewage systems of Lubigi swamps near Kampala before announcing a massive immunization exercise. 

The virus is highly infectious and largely affects children under the age of five, causing permanent paralysis or death. 

“Approximately one in 200 people with polio type 2 infections faces permanent paralysis, and 5 to 10% of those who are paralyzed die as a result of the virus,” he said. 

Sanitation and hygiene are other major environmental factors in polio control and virus multiplication, Driwale revealed. 

“Since the transmission route of polio is oral-fecal, contaminated water sources and poor sewage systems can be a major environmental factor in the risk of polio transmission and virus multiplication,” he added. 

Driwale advised town dwellers against degrading wetlands, which he said if well preserved could create an ecosystem balance to address likely outbreaks of deadly diseases like cholera, malaria, and dysentery.

Countrywide exercise

Meanwhile, the countrywide second round of polio immunization was implemented last year in October 2022, registering a 111% success rate, according to Driwale.

“The districts of Mubende, Kasanda, Wakiso, Mukono, and Kampala were excluded from last year following the outbreak of Ebola and were not vaccinated,” he said.

When the health ministry declared Uganda under Ebola control, health officials started a massive polio vaccination exercise in those districts two weeks ago. Kampala started later, on February 17.

“This exercise is going to be followed by an independent monitoring and quality assurance survey, which shall be done to inform us that every home with immunized children was marked," said Driwale.

As many as nine million children are being targeted for the entire exercise in Uganda.

The overall number of children immunized against polio in Uganda will later be communicated by the health minister, Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng.