Following the discovery of  Africa’s first case of wild polio in a number of years, Malawi is planning a vaccination campaign for 2.9 million children.

The United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, announced the procurement of 6.9 million vaccine doses on Thursday, and further promised to improve the country’s logistical infrastructure to facilitate the storage and transport of the vaccine.

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“There are plans to purchase 223 new fridges for the vaccines.

“The resurgence of the wild poliovirus in Malawi, decades after it was last detected is cause of serious concern,” said Rudolf Schwenk, the UNICEF representative in Malawi.

“The vaccination campaign, which will see children less than five years of age receiving four doses each, is likely to be challenging as Malawi is still battling the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

In February, the wild poliovirus type one was discovered in a child in the capital of Lilongwe.

It was the first outbreak of wild polio on the African continent since 2016.

Laboratory tests found that the virus matched the type found in the Sindh province of Pakistan,  and was presumably imported from there.

Malawi had an official case of polio in 1992 and the country had been considered completely free of the virus since 2005.

The continent of Africa was certified as polio-free by the WHO in August 2020, after no cases had been discovered for at least four years.

Polio is an infectious disease that could cause paralysis and even death.

Young children were particularly vulnerable and could suffer life-long paralysis.