West Africa gears up to eradicate polio by end of 2004, UNICEF says

In what the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) called a breakthrough in Africa's health care, several African countries have started a massive synchronized polio immunization campaign designed to reach 63 million children in the next three days, UNICEF said.

Political, religious and traditional leaders are supporting the operations as tens of thousands of health workers go house to house to inject every child in Benin, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Ghana, Niger, Nigeria and Togo. Cameroon started its campaign on 20 February and Chad will launch its efforts in March.

Children were recently infected by the paralyzing disease in seven of the countries after years in which polio had been virtually wiped out in the region, with 388 children infected in all of 2003, down from 205 daily, UNICEF said.

"After eight years of incredible collaboration and investment, Africa is standing on the verge of a well-deserved triumph in public health," said Dr Ebrahim Samba, World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Director for the African Region. "But the disease is now threatening to make a comeback and the whole continent is on the brink of re-infection unless these campaigns stop the further spread of the virus. Africa has proved it can stop polio - now is the time to finish the job."

Nigeria was forced to suspend polio immunizations in key northern states because of unfounded rumours that the vaccination was unsafe for girls and young women. A polio outbreak subsequently followed and affected neighbouring countries, UNICEF said.

In October 2003, the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) unanimously resolved to eradicate polio by the end of 2004. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) recently announced that the Islamic Gulf countries would make a multi-million dollar contribution to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.

The Initiative was launched in 1988 by WHO, Rotary International, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF).