Added on June 21, 2006 New Benin president launches polio effortBy Vukoni Lupa-Lasaga, Rotary International News Boni Yayi, the newly elected president of Benin, launched the West African nation's first round of National Immunization Days this year at Bohicon, 130 kilometers north of Cotonou, the financial capital, on 26 May. In a collective show of commitment toward polio eradication, 11 government ministers, roughly half of the cabinet, accompanied Yayi to the launch, which was the first high-profile public event attended by the new administration. "More than a mere gesture of solidarity, this launch is the pledge of the commitment of the government to kick polio out of Benin," said the president. "Accordingly, all participants in the fight against polio must increase their resolve to make a success of this noble mission of eradicating polio, a deadly scourge of children, from the African continent." Yayi praised the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, thanking its spearheading partners — World Health Organization, UNICEF, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Rotary International — for working in concert to accelerate the demise of the poliovirus. Although no indigenous form of the poliovirus circulates in Benin, the country is still at risk of imported cases, especially from neighboring polio-endemic Nigeria, which is currently the world's leading reservoir of the disease. In 2003, Benin was one of eight West African countries that were re-infected during a polio outbreak in Nigeria. As a result, Benin is a regular participant in synchronized NIDs aimed at ensuring that no new cases of the disease are transmitted across the region. Several hundred children were immunized at the launch, where, in addition to delivering the oral polio vaccine, Rotarians helped distribute social mobilization materials. Millions of children were targeted nationwide. Ashok Mirchandani, chair of the Benin PolioPlus Committee, reports that from the Benin president to representatives of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative partners, speakers at the event "spoke on the progress that the world has made towards eradication of polio and made a fervent plea to all actors to ensure that no child remains unvaccinated." "Rotary left no stone unturned to mark its presence during the flag-off ceremony," says Mirchandani. "Thousands of mothers with babies in their arms were all dressed in our yellow T-shirts, as were all the health workers present." Diplomats, the local elite, the influential kings of Abomey and Covè, and other hereditary leaders also attended the launch. The Rotary Foundation has contributed more than US$3 million toward polio eradication in Benin.
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