Ethiopia has begun a nationwide campaign to immunize at least 16-million children over the next month.
The Ministry of Health said 100,000 health workers and volunteers would go door-to-door to administer the polio vaccine to children under the age of five.
The $15-million immunization drive is supported by the health ministry, the U.N. children’s agency (UNICEF), Rotary International and American and European aid agencies.
UNICEF's senior programme officer in Ethiopia, Bruno Maes, praised the government’s effort to combat the renewed spread of wild polio virus. But he noted that past immunization efforts did not reach all of Ethiopia’s children.
Health officials have confirmed 18 cases of wild polio virus have now been detected in Tigray, Amhara and Oromia regional states.
