Paralysing polio

Editorial

After decades of delay, incompetence, outrageous conspiracy theories and even murder, Nigeria and Africa are celebrating the formal declaration of the continent as being free of wild poliovirus.

This long-awaited event was heralded by the confirmation of the Africa Regional Certification Commission (ARCC) for Polio Eradication, an independent body set up to oversee the certification of the continent as free of the dreaded ailment.

It is an especially significant achievement, given the formidable obstacles that had to be overcome. Apart from the ease of transmission, given the widespread nature of insanitary environments, there was the financial and logistical enormity of immunising an estimated 220 million African children annually, many of them in hard-to-reach rural areas of the continent.

Perhaps the most distressing obstruction in Nigeria was the spreading of rumours that the anti-polio vaccination programme was a western attempt to sterilise Muslims and thereby reduce their population. Spearheaded by a motley collection of individuals, including people like Awwal Adam Albani in Zaria, these rumours stymied the efforts of vaccination teams to carry out their duties.

In 2003, political and religious leaders in Kaduna, Kano and Zamfara states brought the immunisation campaign to a halt by calling on parents not to allow their children to be immunised. It took the sustained efforts of traditional rulers in northern Nigeria, along with comprehensive government enlightenment campaigns, to resolve the problem. The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Abubakar Saad lll, was especially important in this regard.

Indeed, the success of Nigeria’s fight against polio must be attributed to a host of worthy contributors: successive federal and state administrations who kept up the struggle in the face of determined hostility; traditional rulers and community leaders who unceasingly argued against the retention of age-old myths and suspicions; courageous vaccination teams who went into often-hostile communities, some of whom paid the supreme price for their daring.

There are also Nigeria’s development partners like the European Union, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID), the World Bank, the World Health Organization (WHO), Rotary International, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI).

In the flush of victory, however, it must be remembered that the battle is not over. There is the threat of vaccine-derived polioviruses outbreaks (cVDPV2), which can occur when the weakened live virus in the oral polio vaccine passes among under-immunised populations. Currently, some 16 African countries are affected by this problem, including Nigeria. Continued vigilance is therefore vital to ensuring that polio does not stage a comeback.

Then there are the millions of polio survivors in Nigeria alone, most of whom have been severely physically handicapped by the disease. They will require comprehensive forms of assistance, including education, training and jobs. The country must also jump-start the process of retrofitting public buildings, schools and markets in order to ensure that they have disability access. It is shocking that the practice has not been properly integrated into the design and construction process nationwide. The full implementation of the 1993 Nigerians with Disabilities Act must be accelerated, and the long-delayed National Commission for Persons Living with Disabilities should be established.

As was the case with the triumph over the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in 2014, Nigeria has again shown that with commitment, determination and sacrifice, it can overcome public health challenges, no matter how serious they may be.

Similar attitudes must be brought to bear upon the health-related issues still confronting the country, particularly malaria, typhoid, lassa fever, and the new threat of COVID-19. If government and the citizenry unite to face these dangers, there is no reason why victories like the one against polio cannot become the norm rather than the exception.