SAFE FOR CHILDREN. Dr. Saffrullah Dipatuan, chief of the Ministry of Health in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, administers anti-polio vaccine to a child that signaled the launching of the simultaneous 'Sabayang Patak Kontra Polio' campaign in the region on Monday (July 20, 2020). During a press briefing following the launching ceremony (inset), BARMM health authorities assure the public that the oral polio vaccination is safe for their children and allowed in the Islam belief. (Photo courtesy of BPI-BARMM)
COTABATO CITY -- Health authorities in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) are targeting 839,677 children for its two-week anti-polio drive under the government’s simultaneous “Sabayang Patak Kontra Polio” campaign in Mindanao.
The region’s Ministry of Health (MOH) and its partner agencies led the launching of the program on Monday at the BARMM government center in this city.
The campaign aims to stop the spread of poliovirus in the country, after 19 years of being polio-free, by providing a dose of polio immunization to children 0-59 months old.
On September 14, 2019, the reemergence of the poliovirus in the country was first confirmed on a three-year-old female child in Lanao del Sur.
MOH Minister Dr. Saffrullah Dipatuan said that it is high time to resume the halted pace of the Department of Health national immunization program after it was suspended last March 2020 due to coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) community restrictions.
“We are doing this campaign for the sake of our children in BARMM, we cannot allow them to be exposed to many health risks while facing a (Covid-19) health crisis,” Dipatuan said.
BARMM Assistant Executive Secretary Abdullah Cusain, who delivered the message of BARMM Chief Minister Ahod Ebrahim, appealed to everyone, especially to the parents, to participate in the anti-polio program.
“It’s a public knowledge that before the Covid-19 pandemic, we are already experiencing the polio outbreak in which the services to far-flung regions have been halted,” he said.
Cusain said polio community-based public health practitioners assigned for the oral polio vaccination task will continue to observe health and safety measures during the entire conduct of the July 20 to Aug. 2, 2020 campaign.
The guidelines issued by MOH- BARMM said that apart from the personal protective equipment for the health workers, a “no-touch” approach would be implemented where only the parents or caretaker can hold the child’s face, mouth, and fingers while observing safe physical distancing.
“Only the designated ‘vaccinator’ is allowed to vaccinate and fingermark the child, while he or she is being held by the caretaker to avoid contact,” Dipatuan said.
He also clarified that the vaccinators “are not the ones on duty in Covid-19 wards and quarantine centers across the region.
DOH records showed that as of June 26, the total number of polio cases in the country remains at 16.
The Philippines is affected by both cVDPV1 and cVDPV2 cases. The cVDPV1 is considered a public health emergency of international concern.
The MOH-BARMM will conduct the campaign in the areas of Tawi-Tawi, Basilan, Sulu—all children under 10 years of age; and in Lanao del Sur and Maguindanao – all children under 5 years of age (0-59 months). (PNA)
