Health information officer for the Ghana Health Service in New Juaben South Municipality, Alfred Adomako Yeboah has urge Ghanaians specifically nursing mothers to take their children ageing from 0 to 5years for vaccination in order to protect them against poliomyelitis virus.
The Ghana Health Service has said the Polio vaccination exercise will start from 11th – 14th March.
Polio is a disabling and life-threatening disease caused by the poliovirus. The virus spreads from one person to the other and can infect a person’s spinal cord, causing paralysis (can’t move parts of the body).
Loss of reflexes, severe spasms and muscle pain, loose and floppy limbs, Weakness and fatigue, Back pain, neck pain, nerve compression, muscle tenderness or weakness deformed limbs, especially the hips, ankles, and feet are some of the symptoms of poliovirus.
During a telephone call interview with one of the Koforidua based-radio station, Dr Alfred Adomako Yeboah indicates that being in contact with an infected person, inhaling droplets from coughs or sneezes of an infected person, having contaminated food and water, poor sanitary conditions, among others completely leads to paralysis.
Dr Alfred Adomako Yeboah averred that trained health workers will run the exercise in all schools to vaccinate children in creche and kindergarten including place such as markets and houses to decrease the risk of contracting polio.
He, therefore, educates the public to maintain proper hygiene in their surroundings, avoid travelling to areas where poliovirus is endemic, and to wash their hands before and after eating or visiting washroom to protect them from poliomyelitis virus in the country.
Source: Mybrytfmonline/Abba Kwegyirba Aggrey
