BUJUMBURA July 5th (ABP) – The Ministry of Public Health and the fight against AIDS through the Expanded Vaccination Program (EPI), organized, on Tuesday July 4, 2023, a workshop to present the results from the first-round of the response-vaccination campaign against the poliomyelitis epidemic, for doctors in the health districts of all the provinces of Burundi, a check on the site by ABP has revealed.
According to the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Public Health and the Fight against AIDS, Dr Olivier Nijimbere, the purpose of that meeting was to share the results from the first round of the -response vaccination campaign to the poliomyelitis epidemic, which has just been carried out throughout the territory of Burundi from June 10 to 13, 2023.
He recalled that the results from that campaign are satisfactory throughout the national territory, they reached a coverage of 112%, that is to say that out of 2,731,432 children expected, they vaccinated around more than three million children from 0 to 7 years old. He stressed that out of 49 health districts, 29 were able to achieve the objective of that campaign.
The permanent secretary in the health ministry also clarified that there have been refusals of vaccination. These include certain parents who, according to their religious or cultural beliefs, have not yet understood the importance of vaccination, the absence of children during the house-to-house visit, certain villages and sub-villages far from the health centers, as well as the lack of electricity.
To that end, he called on participants to raise awareness for the next round of the campaign so that parents can understand the importance of vaccination. It is worth noting that Kayanza and Kirundo provinces are the two provinces that vaccinated all the children during the said campaign.