Emergency Grant Aid to Myanmar (Assistance for Vaccination against Polio)

July 21, 2006

On July 21 (Fri), the Government of Japan decided to extend emergency grant aid of about $260,000 (about 28 million yen) to Myanmar through the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) to prevent the spread of polio.
For the first time since 2003 when Myanmar declared that polio had been eradicated, a 19-month-old child was confirmed to have contracted the disease. As the World Health Organization (WHO) aims at achieving the early eradication of polio on a global level, it is extremely important to take measures to prevent the outbreak of polio in Myanmar from spreading.
Considering such a situation, the Government of Myanmar, in cooperation with UNICEF, is planning to carry out the vaccination for about 1,970,000 children of five years of age or under in two stages, in August and September. UNICEF has requested assistance from the Government of Japan for such purposes as the procurement and transportation costs of polio vaccine for the vaccination in September.
In light of emergency and humanitarian needs, the Government of Japan has decided to extend this emergency grant so as to prevent children in Myanmar from contracting polio and the disease from spreading to neighboring countries.

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