(BEIRUT, LEBANON) — Lebanese Health Minister Wael Abu Faour on Tuesday said Lebanon is “extremely susceptible” to a polio outbreak as a result of the Syrian Civil War. Abu Faour’s comments come after Lebanon launched the fifth national vaccination campaign against the disease.
Polio is an acute viral inflammation that damages or destroys the nerves in the brain or spinal cord and can cause permanent paralysis that often leads to death.
Abu Faour says no polio cases were detected in Lebanon, but the country has been characterized among the seven countries in most danger.
The Health Ministry, in collaboration with Unicef and the World Health Organization, launched the fifth national immunization campaign against polio Tuesday, in a press conference held at the Lebanese Order of Physician’s headquarters in Beirut.
The campaign stands as a crucial national response to the outbreak of Polio in the region, and aims to reach over 550,000 children under five in Lebanon regardless of nationality in order to keep Lebanon Polio free.
“We are in the circle of extreme danger,” Abu Faour said. “Parents of all nationalities are invited to respond to this campaign.”
“For Lebanon, the danger lies in having polio cases in the closest country which is Syria, where thirty-eight patients were diagnosed, which means assuming the existence of two hundred cases that have not been discovered yet,” Abu Faour previously said in April.
According to health minister, “the polio vaccine reached 96 percent national coverage” before the onset of the Syrian civil war. Lebanon, however, has become extremely susceptible to a polio outbreak after the disease started spreading in Syria in October 2013 to Iraq in February 2014, the health minister said.
As a result of the challenge imposed by the Syrian crisis, the Health Ministry has implemented four national vaccination campaigns, according to Abu Faour.
The national immunization campaign will be in two rounds. The first round will take place between 15 and 21 October and will be followed by another round between 15 and 21 November. All children under five years old must participate in both rounds.
1.2 million doses of polio vaccine were provided to the Ministry of Public Health to ensure that children under five will receive the vaccine free regardless of nationality and where they are receiving health care. The donations came from the European Union, UNHCR, and U.S. Department of State.
To expand the outreach of the core message to a wider target audience, the campaign was endorsed by Nancy Ajram to incite all parents to get their children vaccinated. The campaign will also be promoted through educational leaflets and various media outlets including links on all leading Lebanese online portals and news sites.