Imagine campaigning for votes in this environment
If immunizing children against an incurable disease is difficult, how would a politician win people's votes?Progress On Polio Vaccinations, But Resistance Lingers
"Health workers in Nigeria, considered the epicentre of the current wave of polio outbreaks in West Africa, and in neighbouring countries are racing to stop the spread of polio infections...
"Nigeria is one of four endemic countries worldwide where polio infections originate before they are transferred 'silently and stealthily across borders,' said [Oliver Rosenbauer with WHO's Polio Eradication Group]. He said a case diagnosed recently in Indonesia came from Nigeria. 'It is not just neighbouring countries that are at risk. This virus travels.'...
"Nigeria's northern region has reported 123 infections. More than 30 cases have been reported in seven neighbouring countries this year...
"Four years after Muslim clerics in northern Nigeria issued warnings based on fears that hormones in the vaccine could cause sterility and HIV infection, resistance is no longer the primary reason children miss vaccinations, WHO's Rosenbauer said...
"But a 46-year-old father of seven in Kano state, Haruna Maikudi, said he is still not convinced the vaccine is safe. 'I still don't allow my children to receive [the] polio vaccine because I'm not convinced of its safety despite all the noise that it is safe for children.' He added that many believe the Kano state government 'was arm-twisted into resuming the polio immunisation after it stopped the campaign in 2003.'
"Maikudi told IRIN that he and other parents continue to refuse calls to vaccinate. 'We are yet to be told what those sex hormones are doing in the [polio] vaccine in the first place. This is why I and many others don't give the vaccine to their children.'...
"Twenty percent of the families surveyed in Kano state this time last year reported that their children had been vaccinated against polio, versus 40 percent this year, said Rosenbauer...
"Health workers' goal is to vaccinate 90 percent of all children under five to build up 'herd immunity,' or a group's ability to withstand an epidemic..."
See a slide show of Fred de Sam Lazaro's PBS report from News Hour
What You Need to Know -- a study guide for AP Comparative Government and Politics
Labels: civil society, Nigeria, political culture
posted by Ken Wedding @ 6:48 PM
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