Central Province urges parents to vaccinate children as polio campaign begins

Communities in Central Province and especially parents are been urged to open their doors to vaccination teams to spread the word about the Polio Campaign, which was launched for the Province earlier this week.

Acting Public Health Director with Central Provincial Health Authority Maki Orake said this is to ensure that children are brought in for vaccination.

The Polio campaign in the Province is part of the nationwide poliovirus outbreak response in the country.

"Papua New Guinea is currently facing a poliovirus outbreak-an urgent threat to the health and future of our children."

"In response, we are taking coordinated action to protect every child through a two round vaccination campaign-the first one starting from 18th August and will run for 12 days while the second campaign will start on the 29th of September and will be conducted for 15 days."

"These campaign will us a combination of oral and injectable poliovirus vaccines."

"This is not just a routine public health intervention, its an emergency operation to halt poliovirus transmission, boost immunity and to ensure no child is left unprotected." Said Ms Orake.

The Poliovirus campaign for Central Province was launched at Iobuna Koupa Primary School at Laloki outside Port Moresby.

"One of the key priorities in the campaign is to reach every school where target children under the age of 10 are enrolled.

"Schools are vital partners because 40 per cent of target children are in the classrooms."

" But schools are only part of the picture. we also need the active participation of parents, community leaders, church groups and youth organisations to help bring children to vaccination sites where there are health facilities, schools, markets or other mobile outreach points.

Central Province has marked a low immunization coverage, however there has been some progress this year.

"Our immunization coverage in Central Province and across PNG has remained low, leaving our communities vulnerable to vaccine preventable diseases such as polio and measles"

"However, we have seen progress this year with the support of our partners like the World Health Organization(WHO) and childfund, we are able to strengthen community vaccination sessions." Orake added

Each dose given is a shield of protection for a child and a step towards a polio free PNG.