NIGERIA: THE FIGHT AGAINST POLIO SUFFERS SIGNIFICANT SETBACK

Worryingly, one has become rather immune to horror stories emanating from Africa’s most populous country such that news of the killing of nine health workers said to be administering polio vaccines in northern Nigeria has not come as a shock.

 

Boko Haram: The History

 

Regular visitors to the 1worldinternational weblog will be aware of the origins of Boko Haram, the terrorist group with Nigerian origins which has over the last few years masterminded attacks against the Nigerian government, public infrastructure, civilians and churches. In a previous article entitled “Boko Haram: The New Al-Qaeda?”, 1worldinternational highlighted the threat posed by the group. The article also covered fears raised by the U.S. about the Nigerian government’s inability to deal with the insurgency and the prospect that the national problem may spiral into an international concern.
 

As always, the Boko Haram Islamist sect which opposes polio vaccination programmes, for what many term the misguided reason that it is a Western-led ploy to inflict AIDS on Muslim children and cause infertility within that cross-section of the Nigerian society, have been blamed for the killings.  This week’s attack follows a similar attack against aid workers in Pakistan who had been administering polio medicine to those most prone to the disease. Police spokesman Magaji Musa explained: “Gunmen on bikes opened fire on a health centre in the Hotoro district killing seven, while an attack on the Zaria Road area of the city claimed two lives.” Musa continued: “They were working for the state government giving out polio vaccinations at the time of the attack.”

 

Blow to Worldwide Fight against Polio

 

The latest attacks on health personnel in Pakistan and Nigeria, allied with the continued threats to the lives of aid workers in these regions, is indeed a massive blow to worldwide efforts currently geared towards the eradication of the disease. In June of last year, 1worldinternational reported, in an article titled ‘Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) Declares Last Stand against Polio’, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative’s launch of an emergency action plan following fears of a resurgence of the disease in countries where the disease was thought to have been eradicated. By way of information, the GPEI was formed in 1988 and was spearheaded by the WHO, Rotary International, the United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention and UNICEF. It is also supported by polio-affected and donor governments, private foundations, development banks, humanitarian and non-governmental organizations, corporate partners and more than 20 million volunteers.
 

It is perhaps no coincidence that the countries in which the most stubborn and obdurate opposition to the administration of medicine emanates are those – Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria -  in which polio remains endemic to levels needed to prevent the transmission of the disease. The December 2012 and January 2013 attacks by alleged Taliban-linked militants in Pakistan is indication of the continued lack of understanding which is required from leaders of these communities if the Ban Ki-moon led quest to “stamp out polio for good” is to be achieved in our lifetime.

 

Sound-off

 

In the circumstances, the GPEI and those leading the fight against the dissease are left with essentially three options. The first and least favoured is continuing with the same course of action, i.e. sending in aid workers against the background of the real and severe risks of attacks on their person. The second and middle of the road option entails praying and hoping that the military might of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and the Nigerian government will prevail over those of the Taliban, its allies and the Boko Haram military sect. The third and most preferable option, and which in the writer’s view is most likely to yield the most dividends, is that of engaging and educating the opponents of the vaccination programme about the advantages of immunization to future generations of Muslim children. Perhaps this will, to some extent, assuage fears which manifests itself in the form of misguided views in respect of the aims and objectives of the programme.
 

In this regard, charity organisations who operate within the Islamic world such as the Red Crescent may act as mediators and/or negotiators owing to the fact that they may not face the same allegations levelled aganst Western-backed organisations and aid workers which is that they are acting as agents of the West and that they are essentially, propagating and cultivating a Western-backed agenda. Unfortunately, without the co-operation of the current opponents of the vaccination programme, who also wield such overarching power and influence over the regions in which it is most prevalent, the battle against the disease will be one with which future generations will be saddled.