New polio immunisation drive encounters sporadic resistance

Nigeria has launched a new four-day polio immunisation drive to reach 13 million children in the staunchly Muslim north of the country, where several states suspended polio vaccinations last year. However, there were continuing reports of parents refusing the vaccine following fears expressed by radical Muslim clerics that it would make their daughters infertile or infect their children with HIV/AIDS. Kano state suspended polio vaccinations in October last year in view of the groundswell of popular suspicion, but finally resumed immunisations on 30 July under strong federal government and international pressure. The 10-month boycott by Kano and shorter suspensions of polio vaccination by two other states in northern Nigeria led to an explosion in the number of polio cases in the region. It also prompted the reappearance of the crippling disease in 12 other African countries where it had previously been eradicated. That endangered the World Health Organisation (WHO) target of eradicating polio worldwide by 2005. The July vaccination campaign in Kano reached only 57 percent of the state's children, so a follow-up drive was launched in Kano and seven other states in northern Nigeria on Monday. “Eradicating polio in Nigeria is possible,” Mohammed Belhocine, the WHO country representative in Nigeria, said in a statement. “But as we have seen in other countries that are now polio-free, this will require the full mobilisation of every part of Nigerian society.” However, health workers moving from door-to-door with droppers to immunise children under-five reported being turned away by some families, especially in Kano State. “I told them (health workers) they are not welcome because we’re still not sure of what they want to give our children,” Amina Usman, a 28-year-old mother of five, told IRIN in Kano city. Aisha Ibrahim, a 25-year-old mother of three told vaccinators her husband had instructed her not to allow her 18-month-old son to be immunised against polio. “I can’t disobey my husband,” she said. Sanda Muhammad, Kano state's Commissioner for Health, acknowledged there was continuing resistance to polio vaccination, despite Governor Ibrahim Shekarau giving the all-clear after new vaccines, considered safe by a committee of scientists and Islamic clerics, were imported from Indonesia. July’s immunisation round failed to reach nearly half the target population in Kano state, despite an intense public awareness campaign conducted on local radio stations. “Unfortunately not everybody listens to the radio,” said Muhammad. He added that the polio awareness campaign was being intensified to reach more people. WHO and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) have declared a polio emergency in Nigeria. The country of 126 million people has reported 518 new cases of polio so far this year, 80 percent of all polio cases recorded worldwide. “The real tragedy here is that Nigerian children and children in other African countries are still being paralysed by polio, especially when the means for prevention are available,” said Erzio Murzi, UNICEF's representative in Nigeria. Polio can strike at any age, though half of all cases occur in children under three. The viral disease causes paralysis, usually in the lower limbs, leaving victims consigned to a wheelchair or forced to use crutches. The Global Polio Eradication Initiative says massive, synchronised immunisation campaigns already planned for October and November are crucial if the threat of a renewed epidemic is to be averted.