The IFRC has released $336,700 (17.5m pesos) from its disaster relief fund to support the campaign in the southern island of Mindanao and the Metro Manila area. Richard Gordon, a Duterte ally and chairman of the Philippines Red Cross, said in a statement that local chapters of the organisation are being mobilised to help in the mass polio vaccination campaign targeting as many as 1.2 million children. That means three out of five children under five have not been vaccinated. So far, only 40 percent of children under the age of five have received a polio vaccine by injection. Immunisation coverage in the Philippines for oral polio vaccines is 66 percent but needs to be at 95 percent, WHO’s Philippines representative Rabindra Abeyasinghe said. Low immunisation rates have contributed to the outbreak, according to the Red Cross.ĭeadly measles outbreak hits the Philippines
More than two billion children globally are protected against polio through these vaccines, the organisation added. The disease, which has no cure, can be prevented with multiple doses of a safe and effective vaccine. Polio is mainly transmitted by food, water or hands contaminated with human faeces containing the virus, so good hygiene is vital, the WHO said.
The polio virus was also detected in sewage in the capital Manila and the waterways in the city of Davao, the hometown of President Rodrigo Duterte.įollowing the report, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned that the country risks more cases of polio unless it sharply steps up its vaccination of children under the age of five. In mid-September, the Philippines health department reported that a three-year-old girl and a five-year-old boy tested positive for polio – the first confirmed case since 2000.Ī single case of polio requires the government to automatically declare an outbreak. “The Philippines has eradicated polio before, and together we can do it again.” “We appeal to all parents to protect their children against the virus during this massive, synchronised nationwide campaign,” Staines said. Polio may be returning as ‘global’ threat (1:39)
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