HEALTH NEWS: Today is World Polio Day!!!

The world marks the World Polio Day today against the backdrop of a determined effort by Nigeria to shed the toga of "polio exporter" in the West African sub-region.

The history of Nigeria's fight against the deadly disease has been marked by twists and turns. Between 2001 and 2006, the country moved from 56 reported polio cases to 1,143.

It was an international embarrassment, as the nation incurred the derision of other countries, especially those sharing borders with Nigeria. While smaller countries had virtually rid their land of the dreaded disease, Nigeria was re-infecting them.

The concerted efforts mounted by the federal government through the National Programme on Immunisation (NPI) yielded positive results, as the number of polio cases reported came down to 46 in 2010. At that rate, it was expected that within the next two years, the disease would have become history, more so as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation had weighed in with massive support, in partnership with the Nigerian Governors' Forum, to take the battle to the grassroots. But a combination of social and religious variables militated against the achievement of that dream.

Also, the erstwhile corruption-laden system where middlemen cornered the supply of vaccines shifted the focus from disease eradication to a money-making bazaar.

The sight of polio victims disabled by a preventable disease must be distressing to all Nigerians; the fact that the country is one of the three countries in the world that have never interrupted the scourge of polio is equally worrying. Diseases do not respect borders. Even if polio is eradicated in all parts of the world except Nigeria, it will still find its way beyond our borders. That is why the world is interested in helping us do what we need to do to banish polio forever.

The good news is that what needs to be done is within our power - if we but summon the will. We must intensify the routine and supplementary immunisation activities in such a way as to ensure that no child is left out of the immunisation loop. Even in areas where security threats have truncated ordered social life, government must devise ways to reach the children, to save them from a lifetime of disability. Borno, Yobe and Kano, which have suffered terrorist activities in recent times, accounted for 72% of all polio cases in Nigeria in 2012.

It is cheering to note the reduction in the number of polio cases by 52% in the latest survey. There has been no report of the wild polio Type 3 virus in Nigeria this year.

The war against polio can be won within the next two years, if we sustain the current tempo and claim ownership of the fight. It is our cause. We owe our children nothing less.


Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN