RENEWED EFFORTS TO ERADICATE POLIO

By TUNDE AKANNI

Over the years, the problem of polio has received the attention of stake holders both nationally and internationally. The aim is to ensure total eradication of the disease from our shores. Polio attacks children, deforms and sometimes kills them, plunging families into hardship and untold sorrows. The fight against polio is particularly imperative, because it is a way of protecting the nation’s future. However much still need to be done in this regard. The involvement of the community is paramount in any efforts geared towards eradicating the disease. Information on how the disease can be eradicated is therefore crucial. Thus the need to increase efforts at creating the desired sensitisation. At the federal level, a lot of efforts have gone into this task. At the state level, Governors under the aegis of the Nigerian Governors Forum have drawn up a quarterly sensitisation programme to raise awareness on the need to rein in polio across the country. This programme which will continue up till next year is primarily intended to strenghten the war against the disease, and help to totally eliminate it. The sensitisation consists of dedicating one day every quarter to hold campaigns in all the states with the Governors as the lynch- pin to raise the level of awareness like they will do tomorrow.

At various fora, decisions have been taken to ensure concerted approach to fight the disease. At a meeting of State Governors, they reviewed the polio situation in the country and agreed that even though much progress had been made towards curbing the menace in Nigeria, a lot more work needed to be done to completely eradicate the scourge.
During the sensitisation days, the governments would commit substantial resources to creating more awareness about the disease and how it could be eradicated. Apart from massive campaigns in the media, they are also to collaborate with other stakeholders in the health sector to sensitise parents on the need to immunise their children against the disease. The campaign is to essentially make polio vaccine administrators engage with nursing mothers who ensure that the children are made available for polio vaccines. However these efforts should not be left to the mothers alone which perhaps explains the philosophy behind the theme of tomorrow’s campaign which is ‘women against polio’. However, the men also have a big task and must join in the protracted battle against polio.
It is commendable that efforts are been made to ensure the total eradication of the disease from Nigeria once and for all. However, the governors must not rest on their oars until that objective is achieved. This is necessary especially as a recent report by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which is collaborating with the other stakeholders including the Nigeria’s Governors Forum in fighting polio, had painted a very dismal picture of the polio battle in Nigeria. The report has it that the disease was resurging in some states in the North.
It expressed concern about the polio situation in Nigeria with few cases still prevalent in some parts of the country and spreading to neighbouring countries like Mali and Niger. This development no doubt dampens the world’s hope for a breakthrough in stopping the disease. The sensitisation campaigns by the Governors Forum must therefore be commended and seen as even more urgent and necessary as Nigeria is still one of the four polio endemic countries in the world. The others been India, Afghanistan and Pakistan. All efforts aimed at getting Nigeria out of the list are not only necessary but also mandatory.

Source: FRCN daily commentary