Japan Assists Ghana's Polio Eradication Drive

Accra, Ghana (PANA) - Japan is to give Ghana a grant of about one million US dollars to support the 2000 immunisation against poliomyelitis in the country.

This will enable Ghana to purchase 10 million doses of polio vaccines to immunise all children under five, thus allowing Ghana to achieve its goal of eradicating the disease by the end of 2000.

In a bid to eradicate Polio from Africa by 2000, the World Health Organisation introduced the National Immunisation Days (NIDs) in 1996 in which two days are set aside each year for special polio immunisation exercises.

Shosuke Ito, Japanese ambassador to Ghana, and Ghana's health minister, Prof. Kwame Danso, signed the grant's agreement.

Ito said Japan is delighted to continue with its support until the disease is completely eliminated.

He added that even though coverage of the NIDs has been significant, the two countries do not have to relent in their efforts to promote awareness all over the country on the need for polio immunisation. He said he is happy that more than 103 percent of the targeted population was covered in the last immunisation exercise although some parts of the country were flooded and inaccessible.

Boafo said in 1998, there were 23 reported cases of wild polio in Ghana but by the end of 1999 there were only three reported cases. There has been no reported case since the beginning of the year.

He noted that through such grants, Ghana has been able to attain 98 percent coverage reaching millions of children since the commencement of the NIDs in 1996.