Fifty-six thousand children from 0 – 5 years have been targeted to be immunized against polio from March 22 to March 24, 2012 for a start in the Yendi municipality.

This is because the country is being threatened by a possible polio infection from its neighbours in the sub-region, Mrs. Denisia Lamisi Agong, Yendi Municipal Director of Health Services, announced on Thursday.

Speaking during a meeting of the National Immunization Day (NID) Committee at Yendi in the Northern Region., Mrs Agong indicated that the total number of cases for 2011 in the West African sub-region was 51, with 36 from Cote d’Ivoire, three from Guinea, seven from Mali, and five from Niger.

She stated that the habit of defecating indiscriminately was a threat to human health because whenever it rained, the waste product was washed into the source of drinking water which could expose people to polio.

She indicated that when children with polio defecated and it was washed into sources of drinking water it will definitely infect any person who drank the water, and said in some countries people of 50 years and above also died from polio.

She said the importance of the NID Committee members was for them to be sensitized so that they would also go out to educate parents to bring out their children to be immunized. She said the challenge facing the Health sector on polio Immunization was that some people hid their children from immunizeation due to negative socio-cultural beliefs.

Touching on the spread of Cerebro-Spinal Meningitis (CSM), the Municipal Health Director stated that the dry season and hot weather that was currently being experienced in the north were very favourable conditions for the spread of CSM, and referred to the recent outbreak of the disease in the Upper East and some parts of Northern Region.

She advised the general public to sleep in their open compounds, or sleep in rooms with good air ventilation and to avoid living in crowded rooms and public places.

The Yendi Municipal Disease control officer, Mr. Fusheini Mahama said Ghana had not reported any wild polio virus case since October, 2008. Mr. Fusheini said the current polio situation in the country had been possible because of high coverage levels achieved in polio National Immunization Days over the years by both administrative and independent monitors and swift national response when polio cases occurred in neighbouring countries.

Mr. Fusheini recalled that two polio cases were recorded in Yendi township and Sang in previous years, and announced that the second round of polio Immunization would be from May 10 to May 12, 2012.

Mr. Fusheinin further announced that Leprosy was back in the country and urged the public to report to the nearest hospitals and Clinics within their areas each time they detected the symptoms of the disease. **