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Country Begins Countdown Against Polio

BuaNews (Pretoria)

June 2, 2003
Posted to the web June 2, 2003

Wisane Mavasa
Pretoria

South Africa has given itself a deadline of 31 December 2005, to reach a polio free status.

Launching the National Polio Countdown in Lejweleputswa, Free State, last week, Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang called on parents and caregivers in the country to take their children to health care centres for oral polio vaccination.

Minister Tshabalala-Msimang said the country could not afford to have children crippled or killed by polio when there was an effective and safe vaccine to use.

Poliomyelitis is a highly infectious disease caused by a virus that mainly affects children under the age of five. It invades the nervous system and could lead to paralysis within five days of infection.

Its virus enters the body through the mouth and multiplies in the intestine. Initial symptoms are fever, fatigue, headache, vomiting, and stiffness in the neck and pain in the limbs and the paralysis is usually in the legs.

Amongst those paralysed, five to ten percent die when their breathing muscles become immobilised.

There is no cure for polio but it can be prevented with a vaccine.

'We encourage parents, caregivers and communities to continue supporting the immunization programme. Immunization is a critical ingredient of every child's survival and good health,' Dr Tshabalala-Msimang said.

'A child that is not immunized is at risk of suffering from polio and is also a danger to other children. No child should be deprived of the immunization as this has serious implications for both the child and the community,' she added.

Dr Tshabalala-Msimang emphasised that polio eradication was also a global effort, which required all countries to combine their efforts to reach the goal.

The polio eradication coalition includes governments of countries affected by the disease, private foundations, development banks and donor governments.

'This initiative requires commitment from the public and private health sector, the society and other sectors of our society, our goal is to rid the world of polio once and for all,' said the minister.

Free State premier Winkie Direko said her provincial department of health had put in place efficient programmes to improve the detention of the Acute Flaccid Paralysis (AFP) among children under the age of 15.

'... As government we are serious and determined to reach a polio free South Africa. We are confident that as we set the count down clock today we are well on our way to conquering in this province,' Ms Direko said.