AFRO-NETS> Nigeria sparking regional polio outbreak: WHO official

[Dr Rana Jawad Asghar <jawad@alumni.washington.edu>]

Nigeria sparking regional polio outbreak: WHO official
------------------------------------------------------
 
GABORONE (AFP) - Polio is spreading across West Africa from Nige-
ria, the UN World Health Organisation warned.
 
 
The WHO regional officer responsible for certification of eradi-
cation of the crippling and potentially deadly disease, Sam Oki-
ror, said polio in Africa's most populous nation "posed a great 
danger to whole west African region."
 
"Nigeria, that's where the challenge is. We have the type three 
virus which is fast spreading southwards," Okiror said at the 
start of a three-day conference of the African Regional Certifi-
cation Commission (ARCC), a body dedicated to fighting polio.
 
"The virus which is coming from the northern parts of Nigeria is 
spreading fast across the country and has reached the southern 
parts around Lagos. The outbreak is still continuing and we have 
not managed to control it," he told the conference in the Bot-
swana capital Gaborone, attended by representatives from 14 
states from southern, east and West Africa.
 
He said new cases of the virus imported from Nigeria had been 
identified in Ghana and Niger, adding that the situation was made 
worse by another outbreak of a new virus in Togo.
 
The move comes at a time when the disease is being brought under 
control in most African regions -- especially in southern Africa, 
where the remaining trouble spots are Namibia and Mozambique.
 
"Most of the regional blocs have improved except for the west Af-
rican region," said Okiror, adding that in countries such as 
Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Liberia (news - web sites), Ni-
geria and Togo the disease remained endemic.
 
He also pointed out that Cameroon was also under threat.
 
"The disease in Nigeria has spread to 18 out of 37 states (prov-
inces) and Kano (in the north) accounts for 40 percent of the 
registered cases reported in 2003," he said.
 
"The preliminary reports that we are getting for the report to be 
released in next few weeks suggest that we might be having more 
incidents of the outbreak than was previously thought," he added.
 
"The low immunisation, lack of support for governments' initia-
tives at community level and high level of movement of people 
across the (west African) region are major factors which mili-
tates against polio eradication," he said.
 
Poliomyelitis, to give it its full name, is an acute viral infec-
tion which mainly affects children and can be spread by simple 
physical contact.
 
 
--
Dr Rana Jawad Asghar
Program Manager Child Survival, Mozambique
Provincial Coordinator Sofala Province, Mozambique
Health Alliance International, Seattle, WA, USA
http://depts.washington.edu/haiuw/
Coordinator South Asian Public Health Forum
mailto:jawad@alumni.washington.edu 
http://www.DrJawad.com

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