YAOUNDE, March 1 (Xinhua) -- Cameroon on Friday launched a nationwide polio campaign, aiming to vaccinate more than 1 million children.

Officials of the country's Ministry of Public Health said the campaign, which will run from Friday to Sunday, was imperative after a rare wild poliovirus (type 2) was detected in the country.

"Between 3 and 16 cases of polio were captured annually between 2019 and 2023. Over 95 percent of these cases are genetically linked to viruses detected in neighboring nations of the Lake Chad Basin, indicating a cross-border transmission of the virus," said Tambasho Afizu, chief of the Unit of Response to Epidemics in the Ministry of Public Health.

Throughout the campaign, vaccination officers will move from door to door administering the novel oral polio vaccine.

"We call on the population to welcome these health workers who are out to vaccinate our children and protect them from poliomyelitis," Andreas Njoh, deputy permanent secretary of the Expanded Program on Immunization, told reporters.

The Central African country was certified polio-free in 2020 by the World Health Organization (WHO) after having reported no indigenous polio cases for 10 years.

Polio is a highly infectious disease caused by a virus that mainly affects children under five years of age. The virus is transmitted by the fecal-oral route and by aerosol droplets, according to the WHO. Enditem

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