Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Thailand’s Ministry of Public Health will provide free Poliomyelitis vaccination across the country for all Thai and migrant children next week.
Dr Thongchai Keerati Hathayakorn, Director of Ranong Provincial Department of Public Health said on Tuesday that the department persuaded parents of Thai children of age under five and migrant children from neighbouring countries of age under 15 to make the children take the Poliomyelitis vaccination twice.
“There are reports that found the disease pandemic in Burma and India. So the ministry wants to eradicate Poliomyelitis from the country,” Dr. Thongchai added.
He added that Ranong Province has a border with Kauthong in Burma, where many Burmese children cross the border regularly and do not take the vaccination entailing health risks in the future.
The Thai health authorities have invited all parents or employers to bring their children for vaccination at every public health post (government’s) in the province twice on December 23 and December 27 to complete the vaccination programme without any expenses incurred.
Poliomyelitis (polio) is a highly infectious viral disease, which mainly affects young children. The virus is transmitted through contaminated food and water, and multiplies in the intestine, from where it can invade the nervous system. Many infected people have no symptoms, but do excrete the virus in their faeces, hence transmitting infection to others. Initial symptoms of polio include fever, fatigue, headache, vomiting, stiffness in the neck, and pain in the limbs. In a small proportion of cases, the disease causes paralysis, which is often permanent. Polio can only be prevented by immunization.
Last week, Manit Nopamornbadee, Deputy Minister of Public Health of Thailand said that the country has had no evidence of the disease for more than 12 years but there is a possibility of its recurrence because of the trans-border pandemic.
“The mobility of workers both Thai and migrants have resulted in their children not completing the vaccination programme,” he said.
Dr. Paichit Warachit, Secretary-General of the Ministry of Public Health said that Thailand has distributed Poliomyelitis vaccination for 16 years and could provide it to more than 90 percent of all Thai children in 2008. It was found that 12 per cent of migrant children from Thailand never had the Poliomyelitis vaccine and 28 per cent had not completed the vaccination programme.
According to the ministry, the programme will cover 2.5 million children across the country, that focusses in risk areas along the border and in remote areas, and for migrant children those who find it difficult to access medical services. The aim is to check the disease from outside the country. In 2009, there have been 1,457 Poliomyelitis cases around the world. It was found that the disease was pandemic and increased three times in the country where previously this disease was rarely found.
