The Ministry of Health will start a nationwide polio vaccination amid an outbreak of the virus.

The Gambia last detected a polio case in 1986 and was certified as polio-free in 2004. 

However cases of the illness have re-emerged in the country for the first time in 17 years.

The Ministry of Health has called on parents to cooperate with the vaccinators during the vaccination rollout in a bid to end the polio outbreak soonest.

“We are preparing for at least two massive supplementary polio vaccination rounds targeting 382, 908 children 0-59 months in each round. Our goal is to vaccinate all children 0-59 months in The Gambia. 

“We implore all parents to cooperate with our vaccinators during the vaccination campaigns to enable us to end this outbreak soonest,” Health minister Dr Ahmadou Lamin Samateh said during a news conference in Banjul.

“The Gambia has one of the best immunisation programmes in the sub-region, thanks to caregivers for being receptive to the vaccination. Together, we have been able to defeat many vaccine-preventable diseases,” he added.

Polio, or poliomyelitis, is a disabling and life-threatening disease caused by the poliovirus, which spreads from person to person and can infect a person’s spinal cord causing paralysis, according to research.

Reporting by Adama Makasuba