Sierra Leone launches week long mass Polio immunization campaign

A health volunteer administers vaccine on a child outside Freetown

By Kemo Cham

Sierra Leone on Friday kick started a five day nationwide mass immunization campaign against Poli. The exercise dubbed the National Immunisation Days is part of a synchronized sub regional initiative funded by the World Health Organization and other development partners.

In Sierra Leone 1.5 million children within the age bracket of 0-59 months are being targeted through a door to door exercise by hundreds of health workers deployed across the country.

Polio is a viral disease that usually affects children and often causes paralysis and deaths. It is a highly contagious disease which the world is trying hard to eradicate.

Sierra Leone last recorded a case of the viral disease in 2010.

Officials say no country is safe from it until the whole world is free from it. In West Africa Nigeria remains a major risk country for the virus.