Indonesia launches polio campaign

JAKARTA - Indonesia launched its third nationwide polio immunisation campaign yesterday in a bid to stop the crippling disease spreading and will hold at least one more round early next year, the Health Ministry said.

Hundreds of thousands of vaccinators will target 24 million children at 250,000 medical posts across the world's largest archipelago.

"I have received reports from most major posts in Indonesia and preparations are complete," Jane Soepardi, the Health Ministry's immunisation chief, told Reuters.

There have been 295 polio cases in Indonesia since May, when the disease re-emerged here after being eradicated a decade ago.

In the two earlier rounds, Indonesia reached 97.4 per cent of its targeted 24 million children.

"We have already made a plan to hold another round early next year, maybe at the end of January or early February," Soepardi said, adding a fifth round was possible.

Several rounds are necessary to ensure all children at risk are covered.

Polio is a water-borne disease that attacks the nervous system and can cause irreversible paralysis in hours. Children are most susceptible.

The disease was first detected in villages in West Java province in May and has spread to 10 provinces.

The global battle against polio has faced setbacks in the past two years since Nigeria's northern state of Kano banned immunisation out of fear it could cause sterility or spread HIV/Aids. Vaccinations resumed after a 10-month ban.

However, the virus spread across Africa, crossed the Red Sea into Saudi Arabia and Yemen, and reached Indonesia, infecting previously polio-free countries along the way.

- REUTERS