UNICEF to continue polio vaccination program in Myanmar this year

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The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) will continue its program of vaccination against polio in Myanmar in 2009, the local Weekly Eleven journal reported Tuesday.

The polio vaccination campaign for this year will be launched for two rounds -- the first from Jan. 10 to 12, and the second from Feb. 7 to 9, the report said.

The UNICEF polio vaccination campaign will also be launched in areas hit by the last May storm, the report added.

The UNICEF has carried out the polio vaccination campaign since1996 which also includes vaccination against measles, tetanus, diphtheria, whooping cough and ARI (Acute Respiratory Infection) diseases.



In 2007, A total of 2.5 million children under the age of five in Myanmar were vaccinated against polio during the country's polio vaccination campaign under a specially expanded program on immunization following the detection of fresh wild polio virus in a two-and-a-half-year-old boy in Maungtaw township, western coastal Rakhine state on April 19.

The wild polio virus was then spread from neighboring countries, earlier reports said.

Long-term cooperation has been made between Myanmar and Bangladesh, one of the neighboring countries bordering Myanmar's Maungtaw.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization has also been cooperating with Myanmar's health ministry over the prevention measures.

The Myanmar health authorities have stressed the importance to continue working towards a polio-free country despite enjoying the status since 2003.　

Source:Xinhua