Agencies seek ways to overcome polio virus

International agencies involved in a polio eradication drive have urged Nigeria's government and officials in polio-affected areas to devise measures to end resistance to immunisation in parts of the country. The partner agencies, which include the World Health Organisation, the U.S. Agency for International Development, Rotary International and the UN Children's Fund, expressed concern that 196 cases of the wild polio virus were detected in nine Nigerian states in 2002. "This is the largest outbreak of polio in the last few years," they said in a joint statement on Wednesday. "If the spread is not halted, these isolated cases may become a threat to the neighbouring states and countries." Of particular worry is the fact that many children were not being presented for vaccination during immunisation campaigns, the statement said. The nine states are in the mainly Moslem northern Nigeria, where there has been some resistance to immunisation fuelled by allegations by some Islamic preachers that the vaccines cause sterility and contain HIV. To overcome this belief the agencies, working with top Muslim doctors in the region, have conducted widely publicised evaluations of the vaccines to prove to the public that there is nothing sinister about immunisation. The agencies reaffirmed their conviction that it was still possible to halt the transmission of the polio virus in Nigeria, but added that the "leadership, wisdom and knowledge of the local situation" of Nigerian officials was needed to achieve the required level of social mobilisation. They pledged their commitment to tackling the problems of coordination and logistics to ensure overall success of the polio eradication effort. In 2003 three sub-national immunisation drives are to be held in the nine endemic states in addition to two national immunisation days. "To stop the transmission (of the polio virus), at least 90 percent of all children in the endemic states must be immunized," the statement said. Nigeria is one of five countries that account for more than 85 percent of new polio cases worldwide. The others are Niger - Nigeria's northern neighbour - Afghanistan, India and Pakistan.