West African children to be treated after polio outbreak

Hundreds of thousands of health workers began an immunisation campaign today aimed at reaching every child in five West African countries within three days to stop a growing threat of polio, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said.

Health workers, volunteers and professionals spread throughout Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Niger and Togo have been tasked following a new polio outbreak spreading from Nigeria to neighbouring countries – putting 15 million children at risk.

The $10 million campaign, sponsored by the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, was launched after nearly a dozen children in Burkina Faso, Ghana, Niger and Togo were paralyzed from poliovirus genetically traced to northern Nigeria. A further case recently reported in Chad means similar campaigns are planned in that country and Cameroon for mid-November.

"Nigeria is now the country with the greatest number of polio cases in the world," said David Heymann, Representative of the WHO Director-General for Polio Eradication.

"Polio continues to spread within Nigeria to areas which were polio-free and also to neighbouring countries. Polio and other infectious diseases know no national boundaries. We face a grave public health threat, and our goal of a polio-free world is in jeopardy."

Bruce Aylward, WHO’s Global Coordinator for the eradication initiative, said that the situation in Nigeria had become the "last major challenge" on the road to global polio eradication.

"Because of the tremendous progress made in 2002, the polio eradication tactics and resources were shifted in 2003 to focus on just those few remaining countries which remained endemic. But the situation in Nigeria is now forcing us to go back to countries which had already eliminated polio. We simply cannot afford to see these isolated viruses again paralyzing children in areas which had previously been polio-free. That is why this massive campaign is critical," he said.

Epidemiologists attribute the marked increase in cases in Nigeria, around the state of Kano, to insufficient coverage during both polio immunisation campaigns and routine services.

(gmcg)