This week, the global community commemorates the first World Immunization Week. Concurrently, the African Region will commemorate its 2nd African Vaccination Week under the theme “An unimmunized child is one too many. Give polio the final push”. The theme draws attention to the urgent need for accelerated actions to save children from vaccine-preventable diseases.
Over the past few years, the African Region has made commendable progress in galvanizing political commitment and mobilizing communities as well as financial and technical resources to save the lives of children from measles, polio and other vaccine- preventable diseases. I extend my profound gratitude to development partners and Member States for their collaborative efforts in this regard.
However, despite the progress made, much still remains to be done in some countries of the Region. There are still many unimmunized children who are prone to infection and unless urgent action is taken, the transmission of vaccine-preventable diseases particularly polio will not be curtailed.
As one of the most efficient and cost-effective public health interventions, vaccinations are critical to the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals. Further improvements in coverage, expansion of resource pools and large-scale introduction of new vaccines targeting an increasing number of infectious diseases, are needed to sustain the gains.
The success of the first African Vaccination Week in 2011 has brought renewed opportunities to protect people’s health through vaccination.
This year, our focus is to interrupt the transmission of wild polio virus through strengthening national immunization programmes and increasing vaccination coverage as well as accelerating the uptake of new and existing vaccines. Emphasis will be put on prioritizing service provision for hard-to-reach areas with selected high impact child survival packages.
The Second African Vaccination Week is a unique opportunity to further raise awareness on the value and importance of vaccination, mobilize human, financial, material and other resources and implement a variety of activities aimed at improving child survival and primary health care interventions.
Let’s give polio, the final push
Thank you.