Niger plans to vaccinate nearly 7 million children against Poliomyelitis

Niamey: The Nigerien government launched a vast five-day polio vaccination campaign in Niamey, the capital of Niger, Thursday, targeting nearly seven million children living in the national territory.

At the launch of these national vaccination days, Minister of Health Garba Hakimi indicated that there are precisely 6,842,491 children under the age of five affected by the campaign which ends Monday.

He urged local, administrative, customary and religious authorities to become more involved in the operation, reports Xinhua news agency.

"To do this, all means of information will be used to convey the message relating to this vaccination campaign," he declared.

Poliomyelitis or polio is a viral disease that causes irreversible paralysis and can be fatal in some cases.