11th July, 2018
Health Cabinet Secretary, Sicily Kariuki is in Kajiado County to launch a polio immunization campaign. The campaign will run from 11TH JULY to 15th July this year. The Ministry of Health is using the polio vaccination campaigns to prevent the virus from infecting children by helping them fight off the virus currently living in the environment through repeated vaccination whenever it makes attempts to invade their bodies.
Poliomyelitis (polio) is a highly infectious viral disease, which mainly affects young children. The virus is transmitted by person-to-person spread mainly through the faucal-oral route or, less frequently, by a common vehicle (e.g. contaminated water or food) and multiplies in the intestine, from where it can invade the nervous system and can cause paralysis. Initial symptoms of polio include fever, fatigue, headache, vomiting, stiffness in the neck, and pain in the limbs. In a small proportion of cases, the disease causes paralysis, which is often permanent.
There is no cure for polio, it can only be prevented by immunization. The drive targets most at risk counties including Nairobi, Kajiado, Machakos, Kiambu, Garissa, Wajir, Mandera, Isiolo, Meru, Lamu, Kitui and Tana River.