The Rotary Club of Obuasi has collaborated with the Ghana Health Service to immunize children against polio under the age of 5 years in Obuasi Municipal, Obuasi East and the Akrofuom Districts.
Ghana aims to stop local transmission of poliovirus type 2 hence has commenced a nationwide polio immunization campaign which started on September 1 and is expected to end on September 4, 2022 for round 1 vaccinations and October 6-9 for round 2.
At a programme to commence the exercise, Foundation Chair of Rotary Club of Obuasi Rotarian, Maurice Jonas Woode, underscored the importance of the exercise to Rotary.
He said the Club has over the years supported the Polio immunization campaign with the sole aim of eliminating the disease from the country.
Over the years, Rotary has been working to eradicate polio for more than 35 years. Their goal was achieved in 2021 when Africa was declared polio-free.
As a founding partner of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, they’ve reduced polio cases by 99.9 percent since their first project to vaccinate children in the Philippines in 1979.
Rotary members have contributed more than $2.1 billion and countless volunteer hours to protect nearly 3 billion children in 122 countries from this paralyzing disease.
Rotary’s advocacy efforts have played a role in decisions by governments to contribute more than $10 billion to the effort.
In their efforts to increase impact, Rotarians in Obuasi are partnering with Obuasi Municipal, Obuasi East and Akrofuom district health directorates to immunize as many children as possible in the three (3) districts of the Ashanti Region.
"We at Rotary have been involved in Polio immunization campaigns over the years due to our commitment to improving the living conditions of our people. This year, while we are contributing to immunizing the children, we are also focused on educating the parents to take good care of their children and to also make their children available for this exercise,"
On his part, a former President of the Obuasi Rotary Club, Abdul Mumin, said the Club’s involvement in the exercise forms part of its commitment to the Health needs of the people.
"As you may be aware Rotary Club of Obuasi has been part of similar health campaigns including Maternal and child health issues, disease prevention and treatment. This is one of such programmes we do in the health sector," he said.
The Akrofuom District Health Director, John Baffoe Yeboah talked about the need for children to be vaccinated against the disease. He mentioned that most of the people who are crippled were as a result of Polio.
"Since 1996 when we embarked on an aggressive campaign to eliminate polio in Ghana, the disease became a thing of the past but I believe there is the need to rekindle everything to eliminate it totally from the system "
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There is currently an ongoing nationwide polio vaccination