WHO launches immunisation campaign simultaneously in 112 countries

Accra, May 14, GNA - The World Health Organisation (WHO) has for the first time launched immunisation campaigns simultaneously in 112 countries and territories within its Regions in America, including Eastern Mediterranean and Europe.

They include 44 in America, 22 in Eastern Mediterranean, and 46 in Europe. The campaign aims at expanding immunisation coverage throughout the world and raising awareness on the importance of vaccines. A statement issued by WHO and copied to Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Accra stated that the simultaneous immunisation was to promote national and cross-border activities in a collaborative effort to prevent diseases and save lives.

The Immunization Week was also to communicate the value of immunisation and demonstrate WHO leadership in assisting national programmes. It said celebration of Immunisation Weeks began in America in 2003, expanded to the European Region in 2005, and started this year in the Eastern Mediterranean, including a dozen of countries that were working to eliminate measles, with the expansion of vaccination to reach those who had been excluded till now.

The Regional immunisation campaign launch, according to the statement, was intended to reach children under five years of age, pregnant women, elderly populations, border and isolated populations, including indigenous populations and low coverage municipalities. The statement noted that countries were also planning a variety of activities including workshops, training sessions, social mobilisation, roundtable discussions, in addition to exhibition and media events, to address vaccine related issues.

According to WHO, Immunisation programmes had succeeded in eradicating smallpox from the world 10 years after WHO launched an eradication campaign in 1967, when there were more than two million deaths from the disease. The success of the programme, according to the statement, led WHO to launch its Expanded Programme on Immunisation in 1974, credited with saving millions of lives through vaccination against killer diseases.