Four million children for polio immunisation

Jan 07, 2016

The exercise that begins January 22 is targeting children from zero to five years

Ministry of Health is targeting to immunise about four million children against polio in 57 high risk districts along Uganda's borders.

The three-day door-to door campaign will be carried out in districts mainly bordering the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan, ministry Communications Officer, Rukia Nakamatte said on Thursday.

The exercise that begins January 22 is targeting children from zero to five years, she said.

"There are some polio cases that have been reported in South Sudan and this puts Uganda at risk because we share a border," she explained.

She also noted that there are very many South Sudanese coming into Uganda to as far as Kampala.

"We have trained health workers who are going to move from door-to-door, moving with a village Health Team member or LC 1 chairperson," she said.

Meanwhile, Uganda will also mark World Leprosy Day on January 21.

Leprosy was documented in the medical institutions in Uganda in the early 20th century and is one of the oldest known infectious diseases in Uganda.

Countrywide, about 300 new Leprosy cases of whom about 10% children below fifteen years, are detected every year. The Northern, North Western, South Eastern and Eastern regions contribute more than 80% of all the Leprosy cases detected each year, Nakamatte said.

The treatment for Leprosy, all of which is taken by mouth, is available free of charge in all government and NGO hospitals, she said. The treatment lasts six to 12 months depending on the disease classification.

The District Health Office in each district is available to provide information about the nearest place to obtain treatment within each district.

Leprosy being a relatively rare disease is in most cases diagnosed late according to the Health Management Information System in the Ministry of Health. About a third of the new Leprosy patients get diagnosed with advanced Leprosy disease coupled with irreversible disabilities. The disease presents with painless pale patches on skins, loss of sensation to soft and no painful touch, loss vision, ulcers and burns on the hands and feet.

"Efforts are on-going by the Ministry of Health and partners to sustain basic skills by health workers to recognize and manage Leprosy patients. There is however, still a lot of stigma and in some communities, discrimination of leprosy affected people. This contributes not only to delay of detection but also exclusion of Leprosy affected persons from opportunities for their social economic advancement."

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), access to information, diagnosis and treatment with multidrug therapy (MDT) remain key elements in the strategy to eliminate the disease as a public health problem.

WHO also noted that according to official reports received from 103 countries and territories, the global registered prevalence of leprosy at the end of the first quarter of 2014 stood at 180,464 cases, while the number of new cases detected during 2013 was 215,557 (excluding the small number of cases in Europe).  ends

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