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NIGERIA: More children than ever immunised against polio
20 May 2009 19:37:34 GMT
 Source: IRIN

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DAKAR, 20 May 2009 (IRIN) - In polio-prone states in northern Nigeria recent mass vaccination campaigns are reaching more children than ever, according to the World Health Organization.

The number of children in Nigeria who have never been immunised decreased since last year to 8 percent from 16 percent; the number of children missed by the current campaign also significantly dropped, WHO says.

WHO epidemiologists say these indicators – rather than the number vaccinated – are most important to track to determine the effectiveness of a polio campaign.

Progress was most marked in Kano state, where this year in ongoing tests evaluators discovered 12 percent of children had never been immunised versus 50 percent in 2008.

"These are quite impressive figures," WHO spokesperson Oliver Rosenbauer told IRIN. "We have seen some progress in operational quality in [campaign] rounds this year in several high-risk areas, particularly Kano state. We're seeing new engagement by state governors, and that has translated into fewer children being missed."

From the beginning of the year to 12 May – the latest WHO figures – 243 people in Nigeria had been diagnosed with polio, up from 167 confirmed cases in the same period in 2008. It takes approximately four weeks to test, confirm and report polio cases, Rosenbauer said.

Last year 799 people were infected with polio in Nigeria.

In Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea, Mali, Niger and Togo 57 people have been stricken in 2009, after five polio-free years in most of the region, according to WHO.

Health workers are immunising children in each of these countries, as well as in Sierra Leone and Liberia, every few months until the end of the year.

"The goal is to stop the transmission of the virus in Nigeria," WHO's Rosenbauer said. "Until that happens, other West African countries will continue to be at risk of re-infection."

Nigeria is one of four endemic countries where polio infections originate before they are transferred across borders; the others are Afghanistan, India and Pakistan. Globally in 2009, 417 polio cases have been reported, 302 of them in polio-endemic countries.

aj/np

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