By VICKY BAUNKE
690 primary and elementary schools in Eastern Highlands Province have been advised to work closely with the polio vaccination teams to ensure all children below 15 years old in each school are vaccinated.
“With more children attending schools, teachers and school management must work closely with health officers to educate students on the disease and the importance of immunisation,” said Eastern Highlands deputy director superintendent basic education, Albert Wesley.
He said schools must assist health workers during the routine immunisation and awareness.
Mr Wesley said the vaccinationmust be mapped out with the population target, of which many are school children.
The Eastern Highlands provincial health authority (EHPA) had its first partners meeting for the 2019 polio vaccination and round five vaccinations in the province last Friday.
This follows the launch of the vaccination program by WHO Western Pacific region director Dr Thakasi Kasai in Oliguti, Lufa district, the previous friday.
Eastern Highlands is among the high risk provinces in the country for polio. This is according to surveillance reports, so now it is important that all children from the ages of 0 – 15 must be vaccinated. The province has also recorded a high number of six reported polio cases in the country last year. Meanwhile, the surveillance, immunisation and awareness teams are already into the second week of the round five polio vaccinations in the eight districts of the province despite delay in funding.