by Eze Eluchie,
On 24th
July 2015, health authorities in Nigeria practically rolled out the drums to
celebrate what could be a public health feat of local and international
implications, going 365 days without any report of a child falling to the
Poliomyelitis virus. For several years, Nigeria had, maintained the dubious
distinction of being the major source via which the Poliomyelitis virus
continued to plague the African continent, and the only African state of a
troika of territories where the wild polio virus continues to remain endemic –
the others being Pakistan and Afghanistan.
With the
feat purportedly achieved in Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan remained the
only 2 territories where the crippling and lethal Polio virus still held sway.
From a
lavishly broadcast ‘immunization campaign’ personally launched and performed by
the President in his home State, Katsina, to a visit by the Secretary General
of the United Nations, Ban ki-Moon,
whose visit was timed to coincide with the ‘achievement’, who lavished
encomiums on Nigerian authorities for the attainment, the newly inaugurated government
headed by Muhammadu Buhari wanted all to believe that in a very short period of
their existence, a monumental feat in the area of public health had been
attained – ridding Nigeria of the Polio virus.
If indeed
Nigeria was truly Polio-Free, it would truly be a remarkable development and
giant leap towards eliminating a totally avoidable scourge that serves to
diminish potential of its victims, rendering so many of them paralyzed . If
only, Nigeria was indeed Polio-free.
The veracity
of the claim by Nigerian authorities was directly put into question by the seemingly
unrelated announcements from Nigeria’s military commanders engaged in efforts
to dislodge Boko Haram terror elements from territories controlled by the terror
group in Nigeria’s Northeastern zone, to the effect that Nigerian troops had retaken
possession of the largest commercial town in Nigeria’s northeastern flank –
Bama, and its environs. Since the announcement made by the Nigeria military,
several other towns previously under Boko Haram control have been pronounced ‘liberated’
from control by the terrorists. In all of these ‘reclaimed’ towns and villages,
thousands of women, children and babies, who had been cut-off from contact and
purview of Nigerian government authorities for several months, were also
liberated.
When it is
realized that this same Northeast zone of Nigeria where thousands of children,
some of whom have not received any of the routine prescribed immunization shots,
inclusive of the Polio vaccinations, is the core polio-endemic area in Nigeria,
the area that has served as the black sheep, black spots, with
institutionalized suspicion and rejection of Immunization Campaigns, it becomes
clear that the celebration of ‘1-year Polio-free’ by Nigeria might have been a
bit too hasty. The declaration of 1-year Polio-free’ by Nigerian authorities needs
to be taken with extreme caution and preparedness to continue with a renewed
vengeance on the Polo virus when its resurgence in our Northeast zone is
finally reconfirmed.
A Polio-Free
Nigeria would surely be a wonderful and monumental development for global
health security; but the hasty removal of Nigeria from the list of Polio-endemic
countries by the World Health Organization (WHO), when definitive nationwide
coverage across all parts of the country, particularly in our Northeast zone where
Nigerian troops are in continued efforts to regain territory and liberate citizens
from the control of terrorists, has not been attained, could eventually prove to
be counterproductive.
Picture: Some victims
of Poliomyelitis in Northeastern Nigeria.
No comments:
Post a Comment