Geneva - Sana
Polio has reappeared in Sudan after it disappeared for more than a decade after the World Health Organization announced a few days ago that the disease would be eradicated in Africa.
The French Press Agency quoted the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs OCHA as saying in a statement that at least 13 children were paralyzed in 9 Sudanese states since the first case appeared on the ninth of this month.
The UN office added that the Sudanese Ministry of Health, with the support of UNICEF, the World Health Organization and the World Food Program, is preparing a large-scale vaccination campaign that includes 5 million children under the age of 5 years, noting that the United Nations needs 20 million dollars to fund this campaign.
The wild poliovirus of the second type was discovered in samples taken in Khartoum state, which indicates, according to OCHA, "the possibility of the virus spreading widely in the country."
Cases have been reported in Ethiopia, the Central African Republic and Chad, which increase the risk of proliferation in Sudan and especially in Darfur, due to population movements.
Rose Leakey, head of the African Regional Committee that issues health statements at the World Health Organization, announced last Tuesday that the transmission of wild poliovirus has stopped in Africa.
