LUANDA - African leaders have been called upon to redouble efforts to ensure that polio is eradicated from the continent by the set target of 2005 by the Angolan Prime Minister Fernando da Piedade, at the opening session of the 11th Meeting of the Task Force on Immunization (TFI) and the 10th Meeting of the African Regional Inter-Agency coordinating Committee (ARICC) on 2nd December, 2003. 
Mr de Piedade said the situation prevailing in Nigeria regarding polio should not be seen as futile as Angola had faced one of the biggest polio epidemics in the African region in 1999 which caused 1117 cases and 113 deaths, but with political commitment and international assistance managed to achieve certification level.

As a country coming from the adversity of a civil war Angola is a best practice in government commitment in the fight against vaccine preventable diseases, Mr Fernando da Piedade said. He called on African countries to put their differences aside when dealing with the future of the children and prioritise immunisations against all vaccine preventable diseases at all times.

With peace prevailing in Angola there has been efforts by the government to provide primary health care services to all by taking advantage of the repatriation exercise to reach all children around the country, particularly to develop vaccination activities in the newly accessible areas, he said.

Speaking at the same occasion the UNICEF Representative to Angola, Mario Ferrari, pointed to Polio Eradication Initiative, the accelerated reduction of measles mortality, the elimination of maternal and neonatal tetanus and the intensification of routine immunization as the major current challenges facing the continent.

Mario Ferrari emphasized that the EPI programme in Angola is achieving remarkable progress because of the multi sectoral approach undertaken by all the stakeholders in the health sector.

"Government commitment at high level, involvement of civic organizations, churches and traditional leaders, creation of partnership, planning, supervision and social mobilization activities have contributed immensely to the success of EPI in Angola," he said.

The WHO representative to Angola, Dr Paolo Balladelli, said WHO had played a big role in strengthening the national health system in Angola by providing technical assistance aimed at supporting the massive National Immunisation Days, and was also instrumental in the implementation and monitoring of vital health programmes including AFP Surveillance.

In addition, Dr Balladelli said the Angolan Ministry of Health had made a commitment to intensify routine immunization coverage by reaching 70 percent of the children in one year through the accelerated routine immunization initiative.

Furthermore, Dr Daniel Tarantola, WHO Headquarters representative emphasized that the NIDs undertaken in the region in 2004 had been successful, producing high returns, though they proved to be costly. He made an emphatic appeal to African member states to improve Routine Immunization as that would greatly increase the immunity of the population thus reducing epidemics such as the polio one in West Africa.

He added that the eradication of polio in Africa would make funds more readily available for the introduction of new vaccines against diseases such as cholera, shigella, HIV, etc.

For further information, please contact 
Information and Communication Unit, WHO Regional Office for Africa 
Harare, Zimbabwe. 
Tel: (263-4)703580; 706951; 705043/ Fax: 1 321 722 9021 
E-mail: nshimirimanad [at] whoafr.org ; teixeiram [at] whoafro.int  ; jcaetano [at] omsangola.ebonet.net