The Tema Health Directorate has targeted about 74,332 children, aged below five years, to be immunized against Polio, during the first phase of this year's nationwide Polio Immunization Campaign.
The first of the four rounds campaign would start on Friday, March 5 and end on Sunday March 7.
Mr Aguday Sika-Nartey, Tema Metropolitan Disease Control Officer, told the Ghana News Agency in an interview on Thursday that the targeted number could be more.
Mr Sika-Nartey explained that the number reflected the highest number of children immunized during the four rounds campaign in 2009.
He said in February 2009, 61,623 children received the Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV) and Vitamin A, while 74,332 were given the OPV in March.
A total of 74,216 and 72,581 were immunized against Polio in May and November last year, respectively.
Mr Sika-Nartey said during the November campaign, children were not only immunized against Polio, but they also received Vitamin A drops and de-wormers.
He attributed the decrease in the number of children covered in the Metropolis during the May and November rounds to missed opportunities, under reporting and children from the Metropolis receiving the vaccine in other districts due to school or travelling.
Mr Sika-Nartey said just like 2009, an estimated amount of GH¢23,116 would be spent on the implementation of the Polio Eradication Programme in the Metropolis.
The Directorate, he said, has trained 620 volunteers who would wear t-shirts and yellow aprons having the inscription vaccinator. They would visit houses to administer the OPV to children aged between zero and 59 months.
He said a pair of volunteers each was expected to immunize 80 children in a day and 240 children by the end of the three-day campaign.
A total of 54 supervisors and eight sub-districts co-ordinators would also be involved in the polio eradication programme in the metropolis, Mr Sika-Nartey added.
He mentioned Appollonia, Kpone, Manhean, Oyibi and Tema as the areas to be covered by the Directorate.
Mr Sika-Nartey appealed to parents and guardians to allow their children to be immunized against the disease, since that was the only way of preventing its spread.
He said the acute viral disease, which spreads from human to human through contaminated food or water, could cripple the child for life or even lead to death as it has no cure.
Mr Sika-Nartey said immunizing the children periodically was the surest way of protecting them and ensuring that the country maintained her
Polio-free status.
He said all children below the age of 15 who suffered from Acute Flaccid Paralysis (AFP), which is any condition that prevents a child from
walking, is being investigated to ascertain if it was a Polio infection.