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Dealing with Polio scourge in Nigeria
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Adenike Grange, minister of health
The reported resurgence of the Wild Polio Virus in the country is making nonsense of collective global efforts to arrest its spread over the years.
Within the last 15 years, eradication efforts had involved more than 200 countries, 20 million volunteers, and an international investment of US$3 billion.The Global Polio Eradication Initiative is perhaps, the world's largest public health campaign. Last year alone, over 400 million children were vaccinated against polio. Within the same period as part of the intensified eradication effort, over 164 vaccination campaigns were held in 23 countries. The bulk of these campaigns were in the endemic countries of Afghanistan, India, Nigeria and Pakistan.
In Nigeria in particular, available records indicate that 279 cases were reported (111 type 1 and 168 type 3), representing a 75 percent decline in cases compared to the same period in 2006 and a 90 percent decline in type 1 polio alone.
Reports say that the northern state of Kano recorded a stunning decline in type 1, from 304 cases in 2006 to only 7 in 2007. Much of this progress in a state which was the epicentre of a multi-country outbreak is attributed to the ever-increasing ownership of polio eradication by local authorities, resulting in improved implementation and awareness. But the reported case of type 1 early this year has made nonsense of efforts to eradicate the disease
We recognise the successes achieved in eradicating a disease that in recent memory crippled more than a thousand children every day. Certainly, such disease demands more than kid gloves to ensure its eradication. We could replicate what India did to reduce the prevalence of the disease within its territory. India intensified its high quality vaccination campaigns, where every child is immunized with multiple doses of the vaccine and the result was positive and commendable.
The resurgence of the virus underscores the overwhelming need to increasingly intensify immunization activities in endemic areas with a mix of monovalent and trivalent vaccines as recommended by professionals. Again, it brings to the fore the need to declare emergency in some northern states where the disease is still prevalent and to evaluate funding options and access to financial resources necessary to implement polio eradication strategies in the country.
More importantly, we call for an intensified reaction response to sudden out breaks and to strengthen surveillance all over the country for possible unexpected out breaks.
The recurrence of Nigeria as one of the countries where the disease still exists is shame ful because the country has the financial and material resources to deal with the Polio virus despite noticeable constraints. This situation is unacceptable to discerning Nigerians.
All stakeholders, the head of state, local religious organisations, local leaders, traditional rulers, media, health workers, teachers, vaccinators and most importantly parents must join hands in the fight against Polio. We must begin to rebuild the lost trust in Polio immunization exercises at the community level as well as focusing on the very young that are not often captured but highly vulnerable during the campaigns. Our expectation is that the next round of campaigns would witness massive participation that would achieve the desired target of totally eradicating the disease.
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