ACU Releases the 20th Weekly Report on Polio in Syria

ACU-run Early Warning and Response Network (e-Warn), which covers the Syrian opposition-controlled areas, documented two cases of acute flaccid paralysis, bringing the number of total cases recorded since the beginning of the year to 101 cases. It also has documented 13 cases of infection with wild poliovirus since the beginning of 2014, of which eight children have not been vaccinated against the epidemic. The polio control task force said that 1,386,719 Syrian children were vaccinated against polio during the six-day fifth round of the anti-polio campaign in the rebel-held areas of seven provinces, namely Aleppo, Idlib, Hama, Deir Ezzor, Lattakia, Raqqa and Hasaka. The task force said that the fifth round began on May 3rd and that the teams were faced by a series of difficulties, most notably the displacement of people from one area to another inside Syria or to neighboring countries and the regime’s daily bombing especially on Aleppo and its countryside, in addition to the clashes in Raqqa and Deir Ezzor which has affected the number of children vaccinated in these areas compared to the previous rounds. Two volunteers were killed during the fifth round as a result of bombing. The numbers of children vaccinated were cited as 576.797 in Aleppo, 253.996 in Idlib, 206.362 in Raqqa, 266.162 in Deir Ezzor, 38.375 in Al-Hasakah, 40.161 in Hama, and 4,866 in Latakia. The polio control task force launched earlier this year the six-round vaccination campaign in the opposition-held areas of seven Syrian provinces. 1.25 million children were vaccinated in the first round, 1.4 million in the second, 1.41 million in the third, 1.44 million in the fourth, while it is expected that around 1.44 million children will be vaccinated in the fifth round. The task force ensured the safety of cooling equipment and the readiness of volunteer teams to overcome the difficulties they faced in the last round. The teams received vaccines allocated to the fifth round from the Directorate of Health in Gaziantep, Turkey. The polio control task force was composed through the efforts and coordination between ACU, local councils and a number of local and international non- governmental organizations under the slogan “Let’s End Polio in Syria.” The team is composed of 8,000 volunteers and more than 200 doctors. (Source: Syrian Coalition + ACU)