Mekelle: 17 April 2024 (Tigray Herald)
Tigray Health Bureau announces Polio cases reemergence in the Southern part of the regional state
Mebrahtu Hafte, Tigray Regional State Health Bureau Public Health and Disaster Management Coordinator, told local media that Polio has reemerged in the #Raya_Chercher area and its environs, located in the Southern Tigray zone.
Mebrahtu said a five-day Polio vaccination campaign will be conducted in the affected areas from 23 to 28 April. He urged the community to ensure the vaccination of their children against poliovirus during the campaign.
Ethiopia has been conducting successful Polio outbreak responses including declaring outbreak incidents and coordinating with various Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) stakeholders.
The last emergence of polio in Ethiopia was recorded in 2020, six years after health officials declared Ethiopia polio-free in 2014.
In November 2020, the same month the war in the Tigray region broke out, Ethiopia, together with the World Health Organization (WHO), conducted an oral polio vaccination campaign targeting 7. 1 million under-5 children in #Harari, #Oromia, former #SNNP and Somali regions, as well as #Addis_Abeba and #Dire_Dawa city administrations. It was the second round campaign after the first campaign in October 2020 targeting the same number of children in other parts of the country.
According to HeRAMS Tigray Baseline Report in 2023 on the operational status of the health system in Tigray, more than 90% of health facilities in the region were either damaged or destroyed during the two-year brutal war.