Congo: $1.5m needed to fight polio

  1. Posted on Wednesday 17 November 2010 - 10:10
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    John A. Afful, AfricaNews reporter in Takoradi, Ghana
    The international Red Cross has launched a pressing request for $1.5 million to assist some four million people in the Republic of Congo, where polio has left over 120 dead with other 280 reported cases.
    polio
    "The situation is alarming and we fear that the epidemic will spread very rapidly," said Christian Sedar Ndinga, president of the Congolese Red Cross.

    "We must act urgently. We have mobilized more than 700 volunteers to deal with this crisis in the Kouilou and Pointe Noire regions, which are the most severely affected."

    The funds will go towards training staff to deal with the epidemic which appeared early October, as well as providing clean water and sanitation, said the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).

    Polio was considered eradicated in the Congo where no case had been registered since 2000, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

    More than 120 deaths and 280 cases have been reported since the beginning of September, said the IFRC, citing WHO figures.

    The most affected districts include Pointe Noire, Niari and Bouenza in the south, as well as the capital Brazzaville.

    Aid workers launched a mass polio vaccination campaign on Friday. According to authorities, the Congo needs 12 million doses of the vaccine to complete the programme, AFP gathered.

    The IFRC said it was participating in the vaccination and would deploy a team of experts to help.

    Polio is an infectious disease caused by a virus which attacks the nervous system and which could lead to paralysis in a few hours.

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