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Malaysia to work with UNICEF on polio vaccination in Sabah state

Published 12/15/2019, 04:45 PM
Updated 12/15/2019, 04:48 PM
Malaysia to work with UNICEF on polio vaccination in Sabah state

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 15 (Reuters) - Malaysia's health
authorities on Sunday said they are working with UNICEF to bring
polio vaccines to the state of Sabah in Malaysian Borneo, where
the country's first polio case in nearly three decades was
detected last week.
A three-month-old infant was diagnosed with polio on Dec. 6
after being admitted to hospital with a fever and muscle
weakness, the first such case since 1992. It comes after the Philippines, north of Borneo, reported
its first cases of polio since 1993 in September.
Malaysia's health ministry had said the child was infected
with a polio strain that shared genetic links with the virus
detected in the Philippines.
"We are planning to work with the United Nations Children's
Fund, UNICEF, to get vaccine supply at a low cost for an
immunisation programme for non-citizen children in Sabah,"
Director-General of Health Noor Hisham Abdullah said in a
statement.
Noor Hisham said the plan is to have UNICEF subsidise the
cost of the vaccines, and to administer the vaccinations with
the help of selected non-governmental organisations and the
Philippines government.
No new cases have been detected so far, though authorities
are still waiting for the results of stool samples taken from
people who had close contact with the infant and the surrounding
area where the child lived, Noor Hisham said.
"The health ministry would like to stress that the best way
to eradicate polio is through immunisation. Contagious diseases
such as polio know no boundaries," Noor Hisham said.


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