12207: Haitian and Dominican first ladies inaugurate island-wide polio vaccination... (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: MKarshan@aol.com

Haitian and Dominican first ladies inaugurate island-wide polio vaccination campaign
Fri May 31, 2:56 PM ET
By MICHAEL NORTON, Associated Press Writer

JIMANI, Dominican Republic - The first ladies of the Dominican Republic and Haiti on Friday inaugurated the first joint effort to eradicate polio (news - web sites) by the two nations that share the island of Hispaniola.


The campaign against polio in Haiti began May 20, when health workers inoculated schoolchildren with drops of vaccine on their tongues. The campaign's start was postponed in the Dominican Republic because of local and legislative elections.

"This ceremony shows the commitment of our two countries to the health of our children," and the eradication of polio, said Mildred Trouillot Aristide, wife of Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

"Together we can reach our objective," said Rosa Gomez de Mejia, wife of Dominican President Hipolito Mejia.

The two spoke at a ceremony on the border, between the Haitian town Malpasse and the Dominican town of Jimani. In a symbolic gesture of solidarity, the first ladies each dropped the vaccination serum onto the tongues of two babies.

The coordinated effort was deemed essential because of the constant crossing of the Caribbean countries' shared border, said Haitian health ministry official Claude Surena.

About 5,000 Haitian health workers and volunteers will visit homes to inoculate children in the campaign's second stage, which runs through Aug. 2. In all, some 2 million Haitian children under five will be inoculated against polio and measles.

The Dominican Republic will mobilize 20,000 volunteers to inoculate 700,000 children under 3 against polio and about 586,000 children from 6 months to 3 years against measles in just a three-day period.

Financed by the World Health Organization (news - web sites), Pan American Health Organization and UNICEF (news - web sites), the campaign — including vaccines and supplies — will cost dlrs 1.5 million in Haiti and dlrs 900,000 in the Dominican Republic.

Shaken by an outbreak of polio in their countries last year, health officials have already organized island-wide campaigns to prevent such a recurrence.

>From July 2000 to July 2001, 21 children came down with the paralyzing disease — 13 in the Dominican Republic and eight in Haiti, where two died.

The Americas had been declared polio-free in September 1994, and the outbreak was the first since 1991.

Researchers found the cases had originated from the polio virus that, used in oral vaccine and usually given on sugar cubes, had mutated. A study found the outbreak resulted from unprotected children coming in contact with children who had received the oral vaccine in 1998-1999.

Patients receiving the vaccine develop a mild form of polio that results in immunity.

No new polio cases have been reported on the island since the outbreak.

(mn-can/imj)