WHO announced that 15 countries across Africa launched a synchronized mass polio immunization campaign to reach 72 million children. WHO said that “some 290,000 vaccinators have been mobilized to go door-to-door to deliver two drops of oral polio vaccine (OPV) to every child under five in areas considered at ‘highest risk’ of polio transmission.”  This is part of a series of synchronized immunization activities which began in 2009 and continued in March and April, 2010, following the spread of polio from Nigeria to 24 countries across west and central Africa and in the Horn of Africa.

“We are on the cusp of an exciting possibility here,” said Dr Gianfranco Rotigliano, UNICEF’s Regional Director for West and Central Africa. “Political leaders across Africa answered the challenge posed by this dreadful disease and the results are before us. It shows what can be done when there is leadership and dynamic partnership with donor support around such an important health issue. We need to continue efforts to vaccinate and to put the needs of children in Africa first.” The 15-country synchronized activities will cost approximately US$42.6 million, and are funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), USAID, Rotary International, UNICEF and the Governments of Germany and Japan.

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2010/polio_20101026/en/index.html