About 80 million children in 23 countries will start receiving vaccinations Friday in the largest polio immunization campaign ever in Africa, the World Health Organization said. The campaign, expected to last four days, is a direct response to the ongoing polio epidemic in the region, which risks paralyzing thousands of children for life, said WHO. The one million vaccinators will face major logistical challenges in their attempts to reach all children spread over half the African continent in just a few days. The campaign requires visits to every house in every village and vaccinating all children under five years. The WHO said that civil unrest in some places, like Sudan, Ivory Coast and Liberia will make it even more difficult to reach the children. "The recent spread of polio in the Darfur region of the Sudan and spread to Khartoum underscores the speed with which the virus can re- infect communities, particularly those which are displaced and isolated by conflict", said WHO in a statement. WHO works with UNICEF, The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Rotay International in the Global Polio Eradication initiative. The ongoing polio outbreak originated in northern Nigeria, where a vaccination campaign was suspended in 2003, as religious leaders suspected the oral vaccine had been contaminated. In July 2004, vaccinations resumed in northern Nigeria after tests of the vaccine. Polio is still endemic in Nigeria, Niger, Egypt, India, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
