9 fresh polio cases in UP; total cases rise to 16

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9 fresh polio cases in UP; total cases rise to 16
Ghaziabad, June 24: With the detection of nine fresh cases, the total number of persons affected by polio has gone upto 16 in Uttar Pradesh. While in the Ghaziabad district, three cases were reported in Muzaffarnagar district, giving a setback to the ongoing vaccination drive in the state.

Ghaziabad district magistrate Ajay Kumar Shukla told that P3 virus was found in the affected kids and government medical staff here have been directed to administer anti-P3 virus drops to children in the next polio-day campaign next month.

"The six cases have been reported from a particular minority community and we are going to take the help of NGOs to educate them about polio and the need for its prevention," Shukla said.

According to district polio vaccination programme incharge of Muzaffarnagar Dr VK Johri, the three new cases in the district were reported from Kandala and Jalalabad areas.

According to officials, two cases were reported each from Bareilly and Moradabad.
source:www.zeenews.com

Six new polio cases reported from Gzb

Polio is back in Delhi’s backyard as six fresh cases have been reported in Ghaziabad since Saturday. Eight children—all from Muslim families—have tested positive for the deadly Type 3 Poliovirus here in less than a month.

Out of the six cases, four of them are infants aged around one year with the youngest being a 10-month-old girl child, Gulbahar, living in Bajhedkalan of Ghaziabad district.

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Three of the affected children—Sania (1), Saajan (1) and a three-year-old girl Mantaza—are from the Hapur area. One-year-old Daneesh of Dasna and one-year-old Laiba of Bhojpur are the two other confirmed cases.

Ghaziabad District Magistrate, Ajay Kumar Shukla, says the help of local Muslim leaders and NGOs has been sought to educate people about the threat of polio.

NGO workers and Muslim leaders would accompany the medical teams on a polio eradication drive starting July 1, he added.

The administration has also decided to administer the anti-P3 virus drops—this virus requires a different vaccine—to children. “The six cases have been reported from a particular community...we will now stress on administering the anti-P3 virus drops to children as this virus has been found in all the cases detected here. We will also concentrate on specific clusters where the cases have been found,” the DM said.

The first polio case in Ghaziabad was reported on May 26 when two-year-old Uzefa, son of one Rayees Qureshi, living in Ghaziabad’s Loni in Asalat Nagar village was found infected with PV-3.

Dr RC Gupta, the WHO official in charge of Ghaziabad district, said Uzefa was never administered polio drops as his family members had refused to let an anti-polio team enter his house on various occasions.

Ghaziabad administration officials now say they are comprehending taking action against families which refuse polio drops for children.

Both Ghaziabad and Noida districts have fallen way short of their polio immunisation targets during the past anti-polio drives.
source:cities.expressindia.com

HEALTH-ZIMBABWE: Fighting the Spread of Polio - Again

HARARE, Jun 25 (IPS) - Richard Chirew’s prominent stoop makes him look older than his 30 years. He is a resident of Kambuzuma, a dusty and poor Harare suburb where he survives as a street vendor.

He has spent the last 10 years of his life selling sweets and cigarettes on a street corner. Sadly he did not take up this trade by choice. He cannot do any other challenging job because of his physical condition. He became paralysed as a child because he was not vaccinated for polio after birth.

‘‘My mother died just after I was born and I had no one to take care of me until I was taken to Jairos Jiri where they tried to treat me for polio,’’ Chirewa told IPS. Jairos Jiri is a Zimbabwean organisation that takes care of the disabled.

This month Chirewa witnessed groups of primary health care givers conducting a national immunization campaign against polio in his neighbourhood. He is glad that something is being done to eliminate polio.

You only need to spend a little bit of time with Chirewa to notice his strong determination. His eyes are bright with enthusiasm when he talks about doing business. His friends call him ‘‘boss’’. He does not regard himself as handicapped anymore and goes about his business with confidence.

‘‘I was not immunized because immunization was not available to all families when I was four years old. I would be willing to be involved in the immunization campaign to ensure that children are immunised because there is no cure for polio. Once you are paralysed, that’s it,’’ he said.

The government of Zimbabwe and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) earlier this month conducted a countrywide immunisation programme aimed at eliminating polio and other diseases to prevent children from having the same experience as Chirewa and others. It is a continuation of similar efforts over the past few years.

‘‘These nationwide campaigns are the single most important support towards reducing child illnesses and deaths in Zimbabwe,’’ said UNICEF's head of health in Zimbabwe, Colleta Kibassa.

The programme has seen many mothers across the country taking their children to centres around the country for immunisation. About two million children were vaccinated during the week-long programme, which was jointly implemented by UNICEF and the ministry of health and child welfare.

Children were not only immunised against polio but also against diseases such as tuberculosis, measles, diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough and hepatitis B. They also received vitamin A supplements.

Apart from Zimbabwe, an increase has been reported in polio cases in neighbouring countries such as Botswana and Namibia.

‘‘The campaign in Zimbabwe is on track to meet its bold targets and is vital for child survival amid the challenges facing Zimbabwe today,’’ said UNICEF country representative Festo Kavishe according to a statement. Although Zimbabwe was declared a polio-free country in 1999, the country is presently going through difficult economic times.

The vaccination campaign has come at a critical time as families in Zimbabwe are under increasing pressure from the record high inflation, unemployment and AIDS orphan numbers. The health system has virtually collapsed because of the lack of medicines and the flight of health practitioners to other countries.

The effort targeted parts of the country where health facilities are not easily accessible and was aimed at all children under the age of five. They received the first round of polio vaccinations in a two-phase campaign.

Funds from the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID), Canada's International Development Agency (CIDA) and the government of Ireland made the roll-out possible.

A total amount of about one million US dollars was spent on vaccines, logistics and payment of staff. A host of health workers volunteered and received training and other support from the ministry of health and child welfare and UNICEF.

Long winding queues formed at various schools, shops and churches which had been turned into public health facilities.

Because of this and other campaigns, vitamin A coverage has been boosted from less than 10 percent in 2005 to over 80 percent today, according to the ministry of health and child welfare. Overall immunisation coverage, which had dropped by almost 50 percent, has once again reached more than 70 percent.

Much of this success is due to the hard work of neighbourhood health committees and religious and traditional leaders who have been at the forefront of encouraging mothers to bring their children for vaccination.

‘‘Our aim must remain to reach all of Zimbabwe's children," said Kibassa.

UNICEF, with the assistance of the UK and Japan, has also been providing support to the Zimbabwe Expanded Programme on Immunisation (ZEPI). This has included the procurement of vaccines, cooling equipment for vaccine storage and technical support to the health workers. (END/2007)
source:www.ipsnews.net

Nine fresh polio cases in UP; total cases go up to 16

With the detection of nine fresh cases, the total number of persons affected by polio has gone up to 16 in Uttar Pradesh. While six cases have been detected in the Ghaziabad district, three cases were reported in Muzaffarnagar district, giving a setback to the ongoing vaccination drive in the state.

Ghazibad District Magistrate Ajay Kumar Shukla told PTI that P3 virus was found in the affected kids and government medical staff here have been directed to administer anti-P3 virus drops to children in the next Polio-day campaign next month. "The six cases have been reported from a particular minority community and we are going to take the help of NGOs to educate them about polio and the need for its prevention," Shukla said. According to district polio vaccination programme incharge of Muzaffarnagar Dr VK Johri, the new three cases in the district were reported from Kandala and Jalalabad areas. According to officials, two cases were reported each from Bareilly and Moradabad.
source:www.hindu.com

Nigeria Suit Against Pfizer Goes Forward

A court denied a request Tuesday by Pfizer Inc. to throw out a Nigerian government lawsuit seeking $7 billion in damages over allegations the company conducted a drug experiment that led to deaths and disabilities among children more than a decade ago

Lawyers for the world's largest drug maker had argued in court earlier Tuesday that the case had been improperly filed and asked the judge to reject it on those grounds.

But the judge ruled that while the government had improperly lodged one amendment to the case, the overall suit could go ahead. He set the next hearing for July 20.

New York-based Pfizer has denied any wrongdoing. A federal court in New York City dismissed a 2001 lawsuit by disabled Nigerians who allegedly took part in the study; that case is under appeal.

The civil case under consideration in the capital, Abuja, is separate from a legal challenge launched in the northern state of Kano that seeks $2 billion from Pfizer. All the cases stem from the same mid-1990s drug study.

In the civil suit filed in Kano, authorities allege Pfizer illegally conducted a drug experiment on 200 children during a 1996 meningitis epidemic in the state's main city, also called Kano, resulting in deaths, brain damage, paralysis and slurred speech in many of the children.

Pfizer treated 100 meningitis-infected children with an experimental antibiotic, Trovan. Another 100 children, who were control patients in the study, received an approved antibiotic, ceftriaxone _ but the dose was lower than recommended, the families' lawyers alleged.

Up to 11 children in the study died, while others suffered physical disabilities and brain damage. Pfizer always insisted its records show none of the deaths was linked to Trovan or substandard treatment.

In the Abuja civil case, the government is asking for $500 million for treatment, compensation and support for the victims of the drug test and their families. Another $450 million is earmarked for damages related to money spent to overcome concerns among Nigerians because of the test, and $1 billion is sought to pay for health programs. The federal government is also seeking $5 billion in general damages.

Authorities in the Kano state are blaming the Pfizer controversy for widespread suspicion of government public health policies, particularly the global effort to vaccinate children against polio.

Islamic leaders in largely Muslim Kano had seized on the Pfizer controversy as evidence of a U.S.-led conspiracy. Rumors that polio vaccines spread AIDS or infertility spurred Kano and another heavily Muslim state, Zamfara, to boycott a polio vaccination campaign.

Vaccination programs restarted in Nigeria in 2004, after an 11-month boycott. But the delay set back global eradication _ the boycott was blamed for causing an outbreak that spread the disease across Africa and into the Middle East.
source:www.chron.com

Polio Eradication Depends On Vaccination

Namibia's minister of Health and Social Services, Ricard Chabi Kamni, on Monday said poliomyelitis eradication will only be possible if children in countries where the disease has never stopped are vaccinated.

This was said at the launching of the first synchronised campaign of vaccination of children under five in Angola, Namibia and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), held in Enguela, north of Namibia.

According to the Namibian official, besides the vaccination campaign, it is necessary that all nations develop efforts meant to eradicate polio. He said he is confident that in a short time the southern Africa region will be free from the virus.

He also informed that the first and second stages of the current campaign, to happen on June 27-29 and 25-27 July, foresees the vaccination, in his country, of about 300,000 children, as well as the administration of vitamin A.
On her turn, UNICEF's regional director, Dorethea Rozga, said the cases of polio recorded in the provinces of Luanda and Cunene show that much more has to be done.

The ceremony was attended by officials from of the mentioned countries, representatives of the United Nations agencies, as well as the UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, Yvone Chaka Chaka.

The last vaccination campaign against polio that simultaneously was carried out in Angola and DRC, happened in 2002.
source:allafrica.com