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Polio makes comeback in Africa
22/10/2003 14:31 - (SA)
Geneva - A polio outbreak spreading from Nigeria to neighbouring countries is putting 15 million children at risk and undermining efforts to eradicate the disease world-wide, the United Nations health agency said Wednesday.
"Polio continues to spread within Nigeria to areas which were polio-free and also to neighbouring countries," said David Heymann, who leads the World Health Organisation's fight against the crippling illness.
Nearly a dozen children have been paralysed in Burkina Faso, Ghana, Niger and Togo, from poliovirus traced to northern Nigeria, said WHO.
The Global Polio Eradication Initiative, which brings together WHO and other organisations, started a $10m immunisation campaign in the four neighbouring countries plus Benin, aiming to reach every child with polio vaccine in just three days. Further programs are planned in Chad and Cameroon.
After immunisation campaigns spearheaded by the initiative, the number of countries with indigenous poliovirus has been slashed to seven - Nigeria, India, Pakistan, Egypt, Afghanistan, Niger and Somalia. About 99 percent of all new polio cases in the world are in Nigeria, Pakistan and India.
The Nigerian outbreak started in the northern Kano state. Experts blame insufficient coverage during mass polio campaigns and routine treatment, said WHO, noting that in some areas only 16 percent of children were immunised.
- AP
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