The Nigerian state of Kano, the centre of a polio outbreak in Africa, has pledged to resume vaccinations against the disease after accepting that immunisation was not a western plot to harm Muslims.
The authorities told the World Health Organisation that an immunisation campaign would begin this month in the wake of the spread of the virus across the continent.
In the past few days the state governor, Ibrahim Shekarau, informed the United Nations agency’s Geneva headquarters that he was satisfied that the oral drops were safe, a WHO spokesman said.
Health experts welcomed the announcement but it was unclear if senior religious and political players in Kano were backing the governor’s decision. If not, immunisation may be blocked in certain areas of the state.
A Kano state spokesperson, Sule Yau Sule, who said samples of the vaccines were still being tested, would not confirm that immunisation was imminent. ”We cannot give a specific date when the immunisation exercise will resume because the tests have not been concluded. We will begin as soon as the result is out. We have already retrained staff and are mobilising people, including Islamic leaders to participate.”
Kano and other predominantly Muslim states in northern Nigeria halted vaccinations last year after voicing fears that the oral drops were contaminated and could lead to infertility and HIV/Aids. Now, at least 259 Nigerian children are infected with the virus, which can paralyse and kill. An additional 85 paralysed children are suspected of being infected.
The outbreak has jumped borders to 10 countries as far away as Botswana and Sudan, reversing an ambitious plan which seemed on track to eradicate the disease from the world by next year.
Welcoming the resumption of vaccinations, the director general of the WHO, Lee Jong-wook, said the boycott had placed thousands of African children at risk. If the campaigns were not resumed in Kano, a 20-year $3-billion effort involving 20-million people to eradicate polio would be in jeopardy, he said.
Pressure from Nigeria’s federal government and several Islamic leaders persuaded the northern states to back down earlier this year. Kano officials said in May they would source vaccines from a Muslim nation such as Malaysia but gave no date for resuming immunisations. This week’s announcement suggested Kano would accept UN drugs after all.
David Heymann, a polio specialist, told reporters in Geneva that a UN team was ready to deploy now, before the rainy season created ideal conditions for a further spread of the virus. He also said people travelling to northern Nigeria remained at high risk and should be protected against the disease. – Guardian Unlimited Â