Sanaa, Nov 29 (UNI) Yemen’s health authorities have launched a polio vaccination campaign for more than 4 million children in the north of the war-torn country.
The three-day campaign launched on Saturday is supported by the World Health Organization, Unicef and other international aid agencies, Xinhua news agency quoted the authorities as saying. The door-to-door immunization targets children under the age of five.
In August this year, a polio outbreak was declared in Yemen after 15 cases of vaccine derived poliovirus type 1 (cVDPV1) were reported.
The cases were detected in different districts of Sa’ada Governorate, in the north-west of the country. Children aged from eight months to 13 years are affected.
Yemen has been mired in civil war since late 2014 when the Iran-backed Houthi group seized control of several northern provinces and forced the internationally-recognized government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour out of the capital Sanaa.
