West Africa prepares for the final battle against polio

Bulletin of the World Health Organization, March, 2004

Ten West African countries will begin a massive, synchronized polio immunization campaign on 23 February 2004 aimed at vaccinating 63 million children in the region in just a few days. The campaign comes just one month after Health Ministers gathered for an emergency meeting at WHO in Geneva calling for commitment to end polio transmission in 2004.

Political, religious and traditional leaders from Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon (due to begin vaccination on 20 February), Central African Republic, Chad (due to join the campaign in March), Ghana, Niger, Nigeria, Cote d'Ivoire and Togo will come together to launch the campaign and tens of thousands of vaccinators will go house-to-house over three days to administer the vaccine directly to every child.

"After...