Panafrican News Agency

Libya launches preparations for vaccination campaign against polio, measles and rubella

Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - Preparations for a vaccination campaign in Libya targeting children aged 0-5 years, scheduled for the middle of this year, against polio, measles and rubella have been launched, the director of the National Centre for Disease Control's Governing Council, Haider el-Saeh, announced.

In a post on his Facebook page on Tuesday, el-Saeh said the upheaval the world is witnessing, especially in terms of these diseases, is something "disturbing".

He said that migration, wars and irregular routine vaccinations have made countries vulnerable to the spread of communicable disease outbreaks.

He stressed that the planned campaign aims to control the epidemiological situation regarding these diseases, as the plan for this campaign has been prepared.

The Libyan health official thanked the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) for their technical support.

He gave the assurance that the Centre's Supreme Committee on Immunisation has considered the implementation of this campaign to be very important and cannot tolerate any delay.

Libya has been a polio-free country since 1991, but cases of measles and rubella have been discovered in the country recently.

-0- PANA BY/JSG/BBA/MA 8Feb2023