WEST AFRICA: Obasanjo and Kerekou launch final onslaught against polio

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

SEME, 22 Feb 2005 (IRIN) - The presidents of Benin and Nigeria have launched a new polio immunisation campaign in West Africa described by local officials and United Nations health agencies as part of the final push to eradicate polio globally.

Presidents Mathieu Kerekou of Benin and Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria administered the polio vaccine to several children at a ceremony at Seme, the main crossing point between the two countries on Sunday to kick-off a campaign backed by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF).

It will be followed by four days of simultaneous polio immunisation in 23 west and central African countries starting on 26 February.

Polio causes paralysis and can leave victims consigned to wheelchairs or crutches.

Obasanjo, who is also chairman of the African Union (AU) said the continental body decided at its last summit in Abuja in January to work for the eradication of polio this year and asked for more international help to meet the target.

"African leaders cannot eradicate polio alone. African leaders have the political will but not enough funds," he said.

Large numbers of Muslims across Nigeria's predominantly Islamic north boycotted polio vaccination campaigns last year following claims by radical Islamic leaders the vaccination drive was a Western plot to infect Muslims with the AIDS virus or render them infertile.

In 2003, four states in northern Nigeria refused to carry out polio vaccinations at all for several months as a result of such fears among the local population. And even when the resumed last year, many parents refused to allow their children to be immunised.

Kano state held out longest, but it resumed polio vaccinations in July last year after suspending immunisation activities for 11 months.

The boycott resulted in a resurgence of polio across Africa, with the virus spreading from Nigeria back into 12 previously polio-free countries. It also set back a global target to eradicate polio by the end of 2005.

In neighbouring Cameroon, which had previously eradicated the polio virus, the government reported 13 new cases of polio last year.

“The wild polio virus is still in circulation in neighbouring Nigeria, Niger, Chad and the Republic of Central Africa. As a result, in 2004, thirteen imported cases of wild polio virus were declared in our country,” Health Minister Urbain Olanguena Awona said on Friday in a statement announcing Cameroon's latest national immunisation drive.

Seme, on the Nigeria-Benin border, was chosen for the launch of the latest West African vaccination campaign because of its situation on the main West African coastal highway.

The movement of pople across the border there makes it a likely point for international transmission of the polio virus, Nigerian and U.N. officials said.

"It's really a final push. The government of Nigeria has committed to stopping polio transmission by the end of this year," Melissa Corkum, WHO spokeswoman in Nigeria, told IRIN.

International partners involved in the polio eradication effort want to involve all sectors of society, and get top political leaders such as Kerekou and Obasanjo to help persuade ordinary people to accept the vaccine.

Nigeria, Africa's most populous country with more than 126 million people, is regarded as the current global epicenter of polio. With 788 cases, Nigerian accounted for 63 percent of the 1,243 polio cases reported worldwide in 2004 according to WHO.

"If the global war against polio is to be won, the battle to end the transmission of polio must be fought and won in Nigeria in 2005," said Nigeria's Minister of Health Eyitayo Lambo.

The previous round of polio vaccination drive in West Africa took place in October last year and was also launched by Obasanjo.

On that occasion, he chose to start the campaign in Kano, the heartland of resistance to immunisation within Nigeria.

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