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WORLD NEWS Tuesday 17 april 2018

Nigeria's Boko Haram extremists hamper polio eradication

By HARUNA UMAR and has expanded beyond Ni-
KRISTA LARSON geria's borders to neigh-
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) boring Niger, Chad and
— Islamic extremists made Cameroon. Its violence has
Imana Alhaji Gana's village proved to be a major set-
in northeastern Nigeria too back to the international
dangerous for health work- campaign against polio.
ers to vaccinate against Nigeria is one of just three
polio. Now that she and countries where polio is en-
her family have fled to a demic and has not been
displacement camp, those eliminated, along with Pak-
workers want to catch her istan and Afghanistan. The
children in time. final phase to wipe out po-
Here in the camps housing lio is "proving to be extraor-
thousands of families seek- dinarily difficult" because
ing safety from the extrem- "the poliovirus is surviving
ists, health teams are going despite all the good work
from tent to tent, inoculat- and in the face of every-
ing youngsters against the thing that is being thrown
disease that withers limbs at it," said a WHO-appoint-
and disables children for ed monitoring group at the
life. end of last year.
At first, Gana is afraid to let In Nigeria, there is little or no
the outreach workers vac- surveillance data in Borno In this Saturday, Aug. 27, 2016, file photo, a health official from the United Nations International
cinate her baby. Eventually state, and "unless there is Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) administers a polio vaccine to a child at a camp for people
they persuade her that the a breakthrough to reach displaced by Islamist extremists, in Maiduguri, Nigeria.
three-week-old child is not those areas in Borno, the Associated Press
too young for immuniza- entire polio (eradication)
tion, which can take place program is at risk," said the Now the WHO says it will some of their colleagues to "I also tell them should your
as early as the day of birth. monitoring group. Nige- be spending $127 million disguise their vaccine carri- child contract polio and
The complicated fight ria had other outbreaks toward eradicating polio ers or hide them under their grew up to understand
against polio is yet another last year including chol- in Nigeria between 2018 hijabs. that his or her parent had
way the Nigeria-based ex- era, hepatitis, monkeypox, and 2019. Rotary's program In addition to the threat a chance to prevent the
tremist group Boko Haram Lassa and yellow fevers, is helping that effort by posed by Boko Haram, disease but failed, the child
has disrupted life in the showing the challenges to targeting some 2.1 million some communities are still would never forgive the
northeast, leaving children the country's health care children in 24 accessible lo- fearful of the polio vaccine parents," she said. "This kind
vulnerable to an entirely system. Globally the cam- cal governments. But there after years of misinforma- of message actually spurs
preventable disease. paign to eradicate polio are still three areas in Borno tion that it can cause steril- many mothers to offer their
"When such children come has been faced with out- state that are not included ity and other health prob- kids for the vaccine."
to the camps or host com- breaks last year in non-en- because of ongoing insta- lems. Fatimah Muhammed, a
munities they become a demic countries like Congo bility: Kala-Balge, Marte "Many people now accept 45-year-old mother of six,
threat to other children," and Syria. and Abadam. For those the vaccine against polio, says parents should accept
said Almai Some, the field The World Health Organi- unreachable areas, the but there are still more cas- the vaccine.
coordinator in Borno state zation had declared Nige- vaccinators train Nigerian es of rejections here and "Today we have children
for the vaccination cam- ria polio free in September soldiers in how to adminis- there and we are doing that had taken the vaccine
paign run by Rotary. 2015 after it went a year ter the vaccines. our best to tackle them," some 15 years ago who are
Some of the families arriving without any new cases. But In a few cases, villag- said Digma Zubairu, district married and are even hav-
are from areas where polio in 2016 — after two years ers have reported being head in Shehuri-North. ing children of their own,"
vaccinators have not been with no cases — fresh po- threatened by Boko Haram Falmata Kolo, a 21-year-old she says. "So my advice
able to visit for as long as six lio cases broke out in three fighters to avoid the po- volunteer with Rotary's out- for my fellow mothers who
years. locations in Borno state. No lio vaccine. And in 2013 reach program Polio Plus, have kids under the age
Boko Haram's insurgency new cases were reported a number of vaccinators said she works to reassure bracket (6 years old) to get
began in Maiduguri, Borno in Nigeria in 2017 or so far were attacked and killed people that the vaccina- them to take the vaccine
state's capital, but its reach this year. by the extremists, leading tions are safe. because it is good."q