| ■ Massive Polio Vaccination Campaign Planned in Africa | 2010.03.05 |
| Polio vaccinations will be given to more than 85 million children under age 5 in 19 west and central African nations as part of a campaign by U.N. agencies and the Red Cross. The World Health Organization said the program, largely funded by Rotary International, will begin March 6 and involve more than 400,000 volunteers and health workers, the Associated Press reported. The vaccination effort is an attempt to halt a polio outbreak that began in Nigeria in 2008 and spread to a number of other nations. Previous vaccination campaigns failed to control the outbreak. Unvaccinated people contract polio when they come into contact with the feces of infected people. This exposure often occurs through water, the AP reported. Polio, which usually causes paralysis, muscular atrophy and deformation, can sometimes be fatal. |