Polio Vaccine: A Response to Dan Halilu 

By

Dr Aminu Magashi , Community Health and Research Initiative (CHR), Kano , Nigeria healthinteractive@hotmail.com

I have to suspend the series of write ups that I had earlier commenced last week in order to comment on the cacophony of voices in the air, particularly in Northern Nigeria, over polio eradication which is more or less the most controversial health project in that region.

In his article titled 'Polio Vaccine, Kaduna Flood, ET Al: The Wages of Stupidity,' by Ibrahim Dan Halilu posted at Gamji Web Site last week, he made an assertion that a serious reengineering and reorientation is needed for Nigerians, especially those in the northern part of the country, in order to be salvaged from the grievous consequences of the stupidity of the so called well informed folks.

My piece today is not a rejoinder but an attempt to disabuse the minds of Dan Halilu and any other person and group of individuals, that share the same belief, pessimism and myopic thinking, to the effect that just because some religious non governmental organizations have called for the suspension of polio eradication, it is synonymous with future political, socio economic backwardness and capable of generating serious health hazards.

Both the recent antagonists (Jamaatul Nasril Islam, JNI and Supreme Council For Sharia Implementation in Nigeria, SCSN ) and the protagonists of polio eradication ( WHO, UNICEF, Rotary International, USAID, CDC, Ministry of Health, NPI ) and all other persons that fall under sympathizers of both groups, are just crying over a mountain where there is a mole hill, and the approach is window dressing and a strange dance at the periphery, as to what actually instigates the controversy and sincere way forward towards sustaining hitch free exercises and prevention of future occurrence.

Whenever our page dedicates even just a paragraph of an article to look at issues related to polio eradication and comment accordingly, such remark is viewed as uncalled for and a conservative stand, and it is normally accompanied by insultive and abusive mails by some section of our readers, as if the whole global agenda is a personal matter.

I have said before and will repeat again that polio myelitis and wild polio virus is existing, living with us and needs the attention of all concerned individuals to help in eradicating such problem, but the fact will always remain that among the childhood killer diseases and other children problem, it is not a priority problem that requires all the magnanimous attention and resources committed to it alone.

It is such a blatant truth and inherent lack of priority and understanding of African problems by the international donor agencies that has culminated in the controversy that we are witnessing currently. And unless such agencies are willing to make a U - turn and appraise themselves with the actual needs of Africa, I have to regrettably say, Africa and health development will be at parallel line.

It is such misplacement of priority that till today after launching Roll Back Malaria some 41 months ago, the funders and initiators of the project ( WHO, UNICEF, WORLD BANK, UNDP ) are yet to achieve anything positive on the battle field, apart from the provision of insecticide treated mosquito nets that is neither available, affordable nor accessible to the common man.

In a document titled "Master Plan of Operation, a country agreement between UNICEF and Federal Government of Nigeria between 2002 and 2007 on page 32, where the justification of entering such agreement is adequately covered, among such is the child hood killer diseases, and 22 % of all child mortalities in Nigeria is attributed to them. Among such diseases, measles and meningitis carry the highest percentage, followed by tuberculosis, pertusis, diphtheria and tetanus. It may interest the likes of Dan Halilu to know that polio carries the least percentage. It is very negligible to the extent that the document has ignored allocating any percentage to it. I believe practically based on what is seen at the government hospitals, that assertion is quite acceptable.

Logically any meaningful person will assume that UNICEF and other stakeholders will channel resources and finances towards ensuring that a measles and meningitis free environment prevails. At the battle field, it is absolute neglect on all issues related to meningitis and measles. At the community level, parents and all concerned individuals are witnessing on a daily basis, how meningitis and measles are eliminating future youths and leaders of tomorrow. When children are taken to hospitals for routine immunization against such diseases, the story is either no allocation or the drug is not adequate to go round.

On the contrary, the other disease, polio that is very rare. Even before the commencement of polio eradication in 1988, a door to door approach is being marshaled out by the mentioned stakeholders to eradicate it by all means. If this double standard will not cause suspicion and controversy, then I believe nothing will lead to such. When a comparison is made on their complication, polio and measles and meningitis on one side, in case of polio, we see a crippled child. Measles causes blindness, malnutrition and untimely death. Meningitis leads to epilepsy, cerebral palsy, body rigidity, abnormal posture, neurological defect, mental retardation, as well as convulsion and untimely death.

As I said earlier, I am not writing a rejoinder, I wish to conclude that the international donor agencies will be appreciated more in Northern Nigeria, and other regions of the country and Africa at large, if they go back to the drawing board, reassess their programmes and involve beneficiaries of projects at all stages of implementation, starting from the actual designing up to evaluation. It will save them a lot of headache than to be touring traditional palaces and convening sensitization meetings with the media, trying to woo them to their side to continue the so called polio eradication.

On the part of the religious NGOs and other polio antagonists, we expect their campaign not to be a suspension of polio eradication, but to work with all interested stakeholders towards proper, sincere, people oriented advocacy, so that all childhood killer diseases will assume their rightful position and the attention they deserve.

Dr Magashi writes from Community Health and Research Initiative (CHR), Kano and can be reached at healthinteractive@hotmail.com