Two positive cases of the poliomyelitis epidemic have been detected in the Cité Verte neighbourhood in Yaoundé, Centre Region of Cameroon.
Cameroon’s Minister of Public Health, Dr. Manaouda Malachie dished our this information in a communique warning the population of the dangers of the spread of such a pandemic.
Dr. Malachie calls the situation a public health emergency, considering that the risks of the virus spreading are quite substantial.
Following the detection of the two cases, the government of Cameroon has been on alert.
The ministry of Public Health and partners have already begun investigation to monitor the rate and spread of the virus.
Local communication officials have also been sent to the field to educate the masses about poliomyelitis.
A vaccination exercise is also in view for areas considered as risks zones.
The objective of these activities is to quickly stem the spread of the virus from reaching other parts of the country.
This announcement comes barely under year after the Public Health boss announced on Twitter that Cameroon was declared a Polio Free Zone.
“I am particularly happy to announce that Cameroon has proudly been ceryified as a polio-free country. Bravo to the whole team led by Prof Tetaye and to all those who worked for this great victory…” his tweet read.
Cameroon was declared Polio free after a last case was detected in Mada, in the Far North region in 2019.
A 90 day vaccination campaign was quickly embarked on that rolled back the spread of the coronavirus.
Since after the polio free declaration, Dr. Manouada still stressed on the need for the population to be on the alert especially with the long porous boarders Cameroon shares with Nigeria, a high contamination zone with the poliomyelitis epidemic.
Mr Manaouda calls on everyone to strictly respect proper hygiene conditions and make sure children are vaccinated as they should in their different health units.
Bruno Ndonwie Funwie
