DRC government, UNICEF campaign immunizes 14M children against polio

"Thousands of vaccination teams have traversed the vast Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on foot, by motorbike, boat and car, in a campaign to immunize at least 14 million children against polio, the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF) said," IRIN reports. The campaign, which was run over three days beginning October 20 by the government with support from UNICEF, also provided vitamin A supplements and deworming, IRIN notes.

UNICEF "said factors that hampered the eradication of polio include population movements between Angola and DRC, difficulty in accessing remote areas with continued insecurity, a weak epidemiological surveillance system and insufficient national capacity to conduct quality supplementary immunization activities -- circumstances that are further amplified by lack of sanitation and hygiene," the news service writes (10/26).