Having resolved controversies over the oral polio vaccine, Nigeria, which was the source of the re-emergence of the disease in the region, is now ready to relaunch its national drive to eradicate the paralyzing and often fatal illness, the UN envoy on the issue said Thursday.
Last August, the northern Nigerian state of Kano suspended the anti-polio drive, sparking an uncontrolled polio epidemic. As a result, in 2003, Nigeria represented 43 per cent of all global polio cases, while the disease spread to eight formerly polio-free African countries.
In response, the Secretary-General dispatched Ibrahim Gambari to the country to ensure that Nigeria begins a nationwide polio immunization drive as soon as possible. The envoy travelled extensively across the country and met with top-level officials – past and present – as well as religious and other leaders.
Speaking to reporters in New York, Mr. Gambari said a Nigerian committee had reported on the safety of the oral polio vaccine. – While the contents are still confidential, the tone was quite positive, he said.
The report has been submitted to President Olusegun Obasanjo. – What we are hearing is that all the 33 members of the committee are signing on to its conclusion, and the conclusion appears to be positive, Mr. Gambari said.
The President is meeting with key leaders “to sensitize them to the contents of the report, the safety of the vaccine, and to lay the foundation for resuming immunization throughout the country, Mr. Gambari added.
When the campaign resumes – “hopefully on March 22” – the President has promised to personally join the bid to ensure that all children are vaccinated.
The envoy said he has appealed to all concerned to “reduce the level of rhetoric in the media on both sides” while the modalities of resuming the immunization drive are worked out.
– The steps already taken or outlined by the authorities and other stakeholders in Nigeria, if fully implemented – and I am cautiously optimistic that it will be – will no doubt contribute significantly to the resumption of polio immunization campaigns throughout Nigeria, and thereby advance the goal of global eradication of polio, he stated.
BBC Online recently reported, that the northern muslim-dominated state of Kano was seeking polio vaccines from Asian countries to be used in a mass immunisation programme.
According to BBC the vaccine had already been ordered and the first batch was to arrive in Nigeria soon. However the Kano state boycot of the anti-polio campaign would not be lifted until the vaccines were tested, the state government spokesman, Sule Yau Sule, said.
He said, that Kano opted to seek the vaccine fron Muslim states in the Asian continent, where they had developed their own vaccine.
Kano suspended immunisations following claims by Muslim clerics that the vaccine provided by WHO and UNICEF was contaminated with an anti-fertility agent as part of a US plot to render Muslim women infertile.
According to the UN these claims are “outrageous” and “totally unfounded”.
Kilder: FNs Nyhedstjeneste og BBC News Online.
