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العربية
At least two children with polio have been identified in Albu Kamal and its rural areas so far, and the doctors clarified that each undiagnosed polio case is accompanied by 200 undiagnosed cases.
The local councils in Deir Ezzor province used to carry out anti-polio vaccine campaigns under the slogan ‘’ Together to eradicate Polio in Syria’’. The campaigns came after identifying several polio cases in the province, mainly in the village of Subaykhan in the eastern countryside. The total number of children with polio in 2013 reached 39 diagnosed cases. After huge efforts, the poliovirus vaccine campaign succeeded in eradicating the illness.
However, after ISIS group managed to gain control over the province, the ISIS-run health department in Deir Ezzor halted the poliovirus vaccine campaigns. As children with polio cases have recently increased in Deir Ezzor, the group was pushed to issue orders to its health department to allow humanitarian relief organizations to start anti-polio vaccinations, on condition that they must be carried out only in hospitals and not in civilian homes. As the vaccinations are focused on cities, several polio cases have appeared in the rural areas of Deir Ezzor.
It is worth mentioning that in addition to these two diagnosed polio cases in Albu Kamal, there are three other questionable cases in the same city.
