The Ministry of Health said, in a statement, that the campaign, whose first phase is scheduled for the 17th, 18th and 19th of May, will be carried out to prevent and respond to the occurrence of a case of polio imported from neighboring countries.
The eradication of polio "is a global and country commitment to protect the health" of children "and keep Angola polio-free", the note reads.
According to the ministry, the second phase of the campaign will take place between the 28th and 30th of June, with both phases being carried out door to door, in churches, markets and hospitals.
The campaign covers all children under five years of age, including those who have already received routine vaccinations in the 2023 campaign.
The authorities call for everyone's participation in promoting the polio vaccination campaign, because "vaccination can guarantee an Angola free from the threat of polio", adds the Ministry of Health.
The World Health Organization (WHO) promoted, with the Angolan authorities, in October 2023, a vaccination campaign against polio in all provinces of the country due to the low immunity rate, of 60 percent, of Angolan children.
In a statement sent to Lusa, at the time, the WHO stated that Angola successively eradicated the circulation of poliovirus in 2015, "but the analysis of vaccination coverage data for bivalent oral polio and polio inactive for the period from 2022 until the first quarter 2023 shows that children's immunity to poliovirus types 1, 2 and 3 is currently low, estimated at less than 60 percent".
Poliomyelitis is a serious disease that can cause irreversible paralysis, and is contracted, particularly in developing countries, through water contaminated by human feces and mainly affects children under the age of five.
