Polio is caused by a virus and is highly contagious. It affects people differently — some don't feel sick at all, others complain of sore throat, fever, stomach pain or vomiting, stiff neck or headache. Oral polio vaccine has been recommended for use globally since 1963. The success of the OPV in curtailing polio epidemics and reducing or even eliminating the disease in endemic countries provides overwhelming evidence of the effectiveness of polio vaccines, in particular OPV. Vaccine efficacy was estimated at 82% after one dose, 96% after two doses and 98% after three or more doses.
Yemen has been polio free since 2006. In December 2019, WHO and UNICEF conducted a 3-day nationwide polio campaign to protect over 4 million children under the age of 5. The recent campaign covered 317 out of 333 districts and all 22 governorates across the country.
- During the campaign, around 4 538 861 (85%) children under-5 years of age received polio vaccine with the help of 18 133 house-to-house vaccination teams.
- 2572 fixed teams deployed in health facilities.
- vitamin A supplementation was also administered to children 6 months to 5 years of age.
- These teams were supervised by 4667 close supervisors (one close supervisors for 3–5 mobile teams, 630 district supervisors (2 per district).
- 132 governorate supervisors (6 per governorate).
- 680 supervisors from local authorities (2 per district and 2 per governorate).
- In addition to these 41 independent supervisors were deployed by WHO in various high-risk areas to support the district/governorate in training and implementation of campaign.
An independent post-campaign assessment was carried out and the preliminary results indicate an overall coverage of 91% with the lowest coverage in Say’oun (68%), Mokala (78%), Aden (79%) and Sana’a city (84%).
Preliminary results for national polio campaign, December 2019
Polio is caused by a virus and is highly contagious. It affects people differently — some don't feel sick at all, others complain of sore throat, fever, stomach pain or vomiting, stiff neck or headache. Oral polio vaccine has been recommended for use globally since 1963. The success of the OPV in curtailing polio epidemics and reducing or even eliminating the disease in endemic countries provides overwhelming evidence of the effectiveness of polio vaccines, in particular OPV. Vaccine efficacy was estimated at 82% after one dose, 96% after two doses and 98% after three or more doses.
Yemen has been polio free since 2006. In December 2019, WHO and UNICEF conducted a 3-day nationwide polio campaign to protect over 4 million children under the age of 5. The recent campaign covered 317 out of 333 districts and all 22 governorates across the country.
- During the campaign, around 4 538 861 (85%) children under-5 years of age received polio vaccine with the help of 18 133 house-to-house vaccination teams.
- 2572 fixed teams deployed in health facilities.
- vitamin A supplementation was also administered to children 6 months to 5 years of age.
- These teams were supervised by 4667 close supervisors (one close supervisors for 3–5 mobile teams, 630 district supervisors (2 per district).
- 132 governorate supervisors (6 per governorate).
- 680 supervisors from local authorities (2 per district and 2 per governorate).
- In addition to these 41 independent supervisors were deployed by WHO in various high-risk areas to support the district/governorate in training and implementation of campaign.
An independent post-campaign assessment was carried out and the preliminary results indicate an overall coverage of 91% with the lowest coverage in Say’oun (68%), Mokala (78%), Aden (79%) and Sana’a city (84%).
Preliminary results for national polio campaign, December 2019
