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World|life|April 9, 2014 / 04:32 PM
Anti-polio measures in Middle East renewed after first case detected in Iraq

AKIPRESS.COM - polio With the recent discovery of a new case of polio in a six-month-old boy in Iraq, the United Nations and it partners, warning that the crippling virus still poses a threat to children across the Middle East, have re-launched a massive vaccination campaigns in Syria, Iraq and Egypt, aiming to reach 22 million children by Thursday, the UN reported.

"The recent detection of a polio case in Iraq after a 14-year absence is a reminder of the risk currently facing children throughout the region,” said Maria Calivis, Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

For Iraq, this is the first nationwide vaccination campaign since a case of polio was confirmed by the Ministry of Health on 30 March in Moossa Hezam, a baby from Al-Rusafa, in northern Baghdad.

“It is now even more imperative to boost routine immunisations to reach every child multiple times and do whatever we can to vaccinate children we could not reach in previous rounds. That’s the only way we will prevent this outbreak from spreading further,” she added.

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