ABU DHABI // The health authorities of Abu Dhabi and Dubai have completed a two-phase national polio-immunisation campaign.
Children under the age of five were immunised first in November and in January.
Dr Hussein Abdel Rahman Al Rand, the assistant undersecretary for healthcare centres and clinics at the Ministry of Health, said the second phase of the campaign was successful – as they immunised 346,047 children.
Dr Al Rand said the campaign was launched because of an outbreak of polio in neighbouring countries, and was aimed at boosting children’s immunity and keeping the country polio-free. He said no polio cases have been recorded in the UAE since 1992.
The campaign was launched by the Ministry of Health, Health Authority Abu Dhabi and Dubai Health Authority, on the basis of recommendations by the World Health Organisation and the Executive Office of the Council of GCC Ministers of Health.
Dr Al Rand commended the efforts of government agencies and local entities that supported the campaign, including the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Social affairs, the Ministry of Labour, the Red Crescent Authority, Adnoc, the General Women’s Union, and the Supreme Council for Motherhood and Childhood.
He urged mothers to inoculate their children through the national routine vaccination programme, to ensure their children’s health and increase their immunity.
newsdesk@thenational.ae
