A visiting Somalia minister yesterday joined the World Health Organisation and Unicef in appealing for Sh720 million to eradicate polio in the strife-torn country.
Health
minister Abdulaziz Sheik Yusuf told a press conference in Nairobi that the threat of the disease spreading to neighbouring countries was serious and must be stopped. Already, he said, some cases had been reported in Ethiopia.
The minister said 191 cases of polio had been confirmed in Somalia since last July. The disease is believed to have spread from Yemen.
Said the minister: “Our government will ensure that there is an enabling environment for WHO and Unicef local and international staff to carry out a countrywide immunisation campaign.”
Dr Yusuf was accompanied by Dr Elias Durry of WHO and Mr Christian Balslev-Olesen of Unicef Somali.
Earlier, the minister and UN officials held a closed-door meeting with 20 development agencies to appeal for support to end the polio crisis in that country.
Dr Balslev-Olesen said the donors had expressed concern and given their commitment, but he declined to give further details.
The Unicef official thanked the Somali government for giving his team much-needed support, saying polio posed a danger that must be addressed immediately and decisively.
“Somali had been polio-free for three years until last July when the first cases were reported. We are appealing to the international community to donate $10 million to help us in the immunisation campaigns there,” Mr Balslev-Olesen said.
The WHO official acknowledged that insecurity was a major challenge in the Horn of Africa nation. But thanks to the new vaccines that are given by mouth, trained workers could carry out immunisation without fully relying on doctors and nurses, he added. | 
