Running from September 18 to 21, 2020, this campaign aims to immunize over 2 million children under five years old in the Plateau Central, Centre, Centre-Nord, Centre-Ouest, Centre-Sud, Est, and Centre-Est regions, as confirmed by UNICEF in an official statement.

In January 2020, a confirmed polio case was detected in the health district of Ouargaye. A targeted vaccination response was immediately deployed in the Centre-Est region, but COVID-19 pandemic restrictions disrupted these efforts.

« The COVID-19 pandemic caused a temporary halt to vaccination campaigns, leading to gaps in immunization services and a resurgence of vaccine-preventable diseases like polio, » explained James Mugaju, Deputy Representative for UNICEF Burkina Faso.

By June 2020, the national disease surveillance system had identified nine new polio cases and over 600 cases of acute flaccid paralysis—a condition often linked to polio.

Over 5,000 health workers to conduct door-to-door vaccination

As part of this campaign, UNICEF has contributed 2.29 million vaccine doses and is supporting community engagement. More than 5,000 mobilizers and health workers will go door-to-door to identify, educate, and vaccinate every child aged 0 to 59 months.

To ensure safety during house visits, the initiative has provided 39,500 masks and 26,500 bottles of hand sanitizer to vaccinators to comply with COVID-19 prevention protocols.

« UNICEF and WHO remain fully committed to ending the polio outbreak in Burkina Faso. We urge local authorities, community leaders, and parents to support vaccination teams. Polio remains a serious threat to children’s health, and we must eliminate it from our country, » stated James Mugaju.

« With healthcare access already strained by insecurity and the pandemic, it’s more critical than ever to redouble efforts to reach every child, vaccinate them, and protect them from preventable diseases, including polio, » he added.

Polio is a highly contagious viral infection primarily affecting young children. It spreads through contaminated water or food and can lead to permanent paralysis by attacking the nervous system.

While Burkina Faso was declared free of wild poliovirus in 2015, it is currently one of 15 African countries experiencing outbreaks of vaccine-derived poliovirus.

A second round of vaccination is scheduled for early October 2020, targeting nine regions: Plateau Central, Centre, Centre-Nord, Centre-Ouest, Centre-Sud, Est, Centre-Est, Sahel, and Nord.