United Nations: The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported that the first case of polio in Somalia this year was confirmed Wednesday in the country’s Mudug region, a spokesperson told reporters Thursday.
“A polio response team from Nairobi is expected to arrive to assess the situation,” Xinhua quoted UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric as saying at a daily news briefing.
“The confirmation comes as a setback to humanitarian partners,” he said.
“The polio vaccination campaign of 2013, which targeted four million people, contained last year’s polio outbreak and was hailed as an example of providing health services in otherwise inaccessible areas.”
In August last year, Somalia suffered an “explosive” outbreak of polio and had more cases than the rest of the world combined, reports said.
In mid-August, Somalia had 105 cases, and an additional 10 cases were also confirmed across the border in a Kenyan refugee camp filled with Somalis.
Globally, there had been 181 cases of from January to August last year, including those in Somalia and Kenya, the reports said.