The United Nations says it has completed the first phase of an aggressive vaccination campaign to contain a polio outbreak in Kenya's largest refugee camp.
The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees and the World Health Organization issued a statement Friday, saying 288,000 children up to age 15 are being immunized.
Officials says four people have contracted polio in the Dadaab complex in northeastern Kenya since the first case was discovered in mid-May.
The U.N. and WHO say vaccinations will resume next week for the remaining 424,000 refugees at Dadaab. A separate vaccination campaign for the host community is being carried out by the Kenyan ministry of health.
Polio is a disease which attacks the nervous system and can lead to full paralysis in a matter of hours if untreated.
The Kenyan camp outbreak follows one in Somalia where officials confirmed one case of polio in Mogadishu. Immunizations have been suspended over of the past three years in south-central Somalia because of the poor security situation.
The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees and the World Health Organization issued a statement Friday, saying 288,000 children up to age 15 are being immunized.
Officials says four people have contracted polio in the Dadaab complex in northeastern Kenya since the first case was discovered in mid-May.
The U.N. and WHO say vaccinations will resume next week for the remaining 424,000 refugees at Dadaab. A separate vaccination campaign for the host community is being carried out by the Kenyan ministry of health.
Polio is a disease which attacks the nervous system and can lead to full paralysis in a matter of hours if untreated.
The Kenyan camp outbreak follows one in Somalia where officials confirmed one case of polio in Mogadishu. Immunizations have been suspended over of the past three years in south-central Somalia because of the poor security situation.