Myanmar launches polio immunization drive

Myanmar launches polio immunization drive
AP - Sunday, January 11

YANGON, Myanmar - Myanmar, which declared itself free of polio in 2003 only to see it re-emerge three years later, has launched a new nationwide campaign against the crippling disease.

A spokesman for UNICEF said it will cover more than 7.4 million children under 5 and involve more than 48,000 health workers and volunteers. UNICEF consultant Dr. Ye Hla said 15 polio cases were recorded in Myanmar in 2007, though none were detected in 2008.

Myanmar launched its first nationwide polio vaccination campaign in 1996, and last year had a campaign targeting the Irrawaddy Delta area devastated by Cyclone Nargis, which left more than 130,000 people dead or missing and the area's infrastructure a shambles.

Ye Hla said the new campaign _ to run three days this month beginning Saturday and three days in February _ "will cover the whole country including 40 villages in Myanmar's northwestern Naga land that missed previous polio immunizations."

According to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, there were 1,618 cases of polio reported from 17 countries worldwide last year. Nigeria topped the list with 788 cases, followed by Myanmar's neighbor India, which reported 549.

Polio is spread when people _ usually children under 5 _ come into contact with the fecal matter of those with the virus, often carried in water. The virus attacks the central nervous system, causing paralysis, muscular atrophy, deformation, and in some cases, death.