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Amid Iraq’s Chaos, a New Polio Vaccination Campaign Amid Iraq’s Chaos, a New Polio Vaccination Campaign
(about 2 hours later)
Increasingly worried about the possible spread of polio amid Iraq’s escalating chaos, Unicef and the World Health Organization began a mass vaccination effort on Monday in what amounts to a test case of whether Islamist extremists will allow the efforts in areas they control. Increasingly worried about the possible spread of polio amid Iraq’s escalating chaos, Unicef and the World Health Organization said Monday that they had begun a mass vaccination in what amounts to a test case of whether Islamist extremists will allow such an effort in areas they control.
“It’s a little bit of a challenge,” Juliette Touma, a Unicef spokeswoman, said by telephone after completing a 10-day visit to Iraq.“It’s a little bit of a challenge,” Juliette Touma, a Unicef spokeswoman, said by telephone after completing a 10-day visit to Iraq.
“This is extremely timely because of the mass movement of the population, the poor living conditions,” Ms. Touma said.“This is extremely timely because of the mass movement of the population, the poor living conditions,” Ms. Touma said.
While inoculation teams can administer polio vaccine to dislocated children in areas under government control, it is unclear whether fighters of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria would countenance an inoculation campaign in areas they have seized, given their antipathy to other government authorities and international organizations. Both Unicef and the World Health Organization are part of the United Nations, which has designated ISIS as a terrorist group. While health teams can administer polio vaccine to dislocated children in areas under government control, it is unclear whether fighters of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria would countenance a vaccination campaign in areas they have seized, given their antipathy to other government authorities and international organizations. Both Unicef and the World Health Organization are part of the United Nations, which has designated ISIS as a terrorist group.
“I don’t know how successful it’s going to be,” Ms. Touma said. “I don’t know how successful it’s going to be,” Ms. Touma said of the effort, which began Sunday and aims to reach four million Iraqi children under the age of 5.
She also said the inoculation effort could not cover children among the tens of thousands of Yazidis and other religious minorities believed to be marooned on Mount Sinjar, corralled by ISIS fighters in Iraq who have threatened to kill them as apostates. “It’s impossible for us to reach them with a campaign,” she said. She also said the vaccination effort could not cover children among the tens of thousands of Yazidis, a minority that has been marooned on Mount Sinjar, corralled by ISIS fighters in Iraq who have threatened to kill them as apostates. “It’s impossible for us to reach them with a campaign,” she said.
There has been no contact, Ms. Touma said, between international health officials and the militants of ISIS, who seized Iraq’s second-largest city, Mosul, two months ago and have marauded east toward the city of Erbil in recent days, seizing more land and uprooting more people. Last week, President Obama ordered American airstrikes to blunt the ISIS advance, the first American combat action in Iraq since the last United States soldier left the country in 2011.There has been no contact, Ms. Touma said, between international health officials and the militants of ISIS, who seized Iraq’s second-largest city, Mosul, two months ago and have marauded east toward the city of Erbil in recent days, seizing more land and uprooting more people. Last week, President Obama ordered American airstrikes to blunt the ISIS advance, the first American combat action in Iraq since the last United States soldier left the country in 2011.
In a joint announcement on Monday, Unicef and the W.H.O. said they had undertaken a four-day campaign in collaboration with Iraq’s Health Ministry, with the aim of protecting more than four million children. The announcement said that both international agencies were assisting Iraqi health authorities, including in areas of the semiautonomous Kurdistan region of Iraq where approximately 250,000 Iraqi children and 125,000 Syrian children have taken refuge. In a joint announcement on Monday, Unicef and the World Health Organization said they had undertaken a four-day campaign in collaboration with Iraq’s Health Ministry. The announcement said that both international agencies were assisting Iraqi health authorities, including in areas of the semiautonomous Kurdistan region of Iraq where approximately 250,000 Iraqi children and 125,000 Syrian children have taken refuge.
“This campaign comes at a critical time while the country is witnessing a huge internal exodus of children fleeing violence and turmoil,” said Marzio Babille, Unicef’s Iraq representative.“This campaign comes at a critical time while the country is witnessing a huge internal exodus of children fleeing violence and turmoil,” said Marzio Babille, Unicef’s Iraq representative.
Polio, a crippling scourge that primarily afflicts young children, was once thought to have been on the verge of eradication, but it was discovered last October in Syria, where it spread to Iraq in March. One of the two Iraqi children found to have polio was confirmed to have been paralyzed by the disease in April. Because polio is highly contagious, the presumption is that hundreds of other Iraqi children have been exposed. Polio, a crippling scourge that primarily afflicts young children, was once thought to have been on the verge of eradication, but it was discovered last October in Syria, and it spread to Iraq in March. One of the two Iraqi children found to have polio was confirmed to have been paralyzed by the disease in April. Because polio is highly contagious, the presumption is that hundreds of other Iraqi children have been exposed.
In both Iraq and Syria, the re-emergence of polio followed a 14-year absence of any such cases and is considered a consequence of the collapse of Syria’s public health system during the civil war that began in March 2011. Despite multiple vaccination campaigns since in both countries over the past few months, many children in combat zones and hard-to-reach areas have not been vaccinated. In both Iraq and Syria, the re-emergence of polio followed a 14-year absence of any such cases and is considered a consequence of the collapse of Syria’s public health system during the civil war that began in March 2011. Despite multiple vaccination campaigns in both countries over the past few months, many children in combat zones and hard-to-reach areas have not been vaccinated. Multiple rounds of vaccine are required to combat the polio virus.
The last big Iraq vaccination effort in May, which covered all 19 governorates, or provinces, was only partly successful. Ms. Touma said vaccination coverage was lowest in Anbar in the west, and Nineveh and Kirkuk in the north, because of violence and mass population movements. Coverage was also low in Muthanna, in the south, because of what Ms. Touma called “social reservations and lack of awareness among the local communities.”