Parents in northern Nigeria are refusing to allow their children to be vaccinated against poliomyelitis. They fear that the vaccine might contain HIV and make their children infertile.
People in the region believe that polio vaccine is a western ploy to curb population growth in Nigeria, despite efforts by community and religious leaders to allay fears. "Nigeria is one of eight countries where polio immunisation is in danger of failing because of widespread refusals in the northern region," said Dr Abba Zakari, director of the primary healthcare programme in Jigawa State, one of several states in northern Nigeria with a high incidence of polio.
The recent, heavily publicised disclosure that a vaccine produced by Pfizer to combat meningitis in Kano was linked to several deaths and health problems further fuelled anxieties about the polio vaccine.
Dr Masur Kabir, commissioner for health in Kano state, where the incidence of polio is believed to be the highest in Nigeria, said : "I blame misguided elements who preoccupy themselves with misinforming the people into believing that the polio vaccine is a mischievous creation of western countries to pass on the deadly HIV virus to them." He said that steps had already been taken to inform people that the vaccine was safe and effective, and free of complications and side effects.
Mrs Juliana Nathaniel, project manager of Vision Project, a local non-governmental organisation, suggested that an independent scientific analysis of the polio and other imported vaccines would help convince people that the rumours had no substance.
Traditional rulers, religious leaders, non-governmental organisations, and the media have collectively mounted a campaign to counteract the misconceptions. The Nigerian health minister, Professor Alphonsus Nwosu, is confident that this approach will work. "By the end of December polio will be out of Nigeria for good," he asserted.