Ghana has recorded 30 more cases of the Circulating Vaccine-Derived Polio Disease since the country declared a public health emergency in August 2019 following the infection of a child in the Chereponi district of the North-East Region.
This was disclosed by the Country Representative of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Ghana, Dr Neema Rusibamayila Kimambo at a breakfast meeting organised by the Rotary Club of Accra Airport to raise funds to eradicate the disease on Thursday, 22 October 2020.
According to the Country Representative, 26 other countries around the world have similar situations as Ghana in terms of having recorded various degrees of Type 2 of the Vaccine-Derived Polio, although Ghana has successfully eradicated the wild type of the disease.
Dr Kimambo, however, revealed that efforts are still underway to help the government and people of Ghana to fight the disease.
In the meantime, the WHO is supporting the Ghana Health Service to “conduct supplementary immunisation activities against polio in all 260 districts in the country between September 2019 and October 2020, reaching about 6.2 million children who are less than five years”.
Ghana is expected to join the rest of the world on October 24 to mark the World Polio Eradication Day.