Abuja, 22 November 2003 -- The World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Director for Africa, Dr. Ebrahim Samba has reiterated his personal commitment and that of WHO to the eradication of polio from Africa in 2005. Dr. Samba who said he made the promise to eradicate polio from the Region in 1995, added that it was his belief, that with commitment and hard work on the part of all those involved in the campaign, the global eradication date would be met. Dr. Samba made the remarks in Abuja, Nigeria in the course of a four-day advocacy visit to the country in support of the polio eradication initiative.

After a briefing on the challenges being encountered in the campaign in the country, especially a "sustained and virulent anti-OPV campaign", Dr. Samba noted that the allegations being made were not new but that they had not prevented the eradication of polio in other parts of the world.

In recent times, there has been resistance to the polio eradication campaign in some states in Nigeria because of allegations that the polio vaccine contains substances likely to cause infertility. Dr. Samba used the occasion to debunk the allegations and emphasized that the vaccines being used for the polio eradication campaign in Nigeria are safe and effective. He said that the vaccines are produced by WHO accredited manufacturers, vigorously tested, and are being used in other parts of the world.

The WHO Regional Director remarked that the polio situation in Nigeria had generated much interest in global circles because the country had overtaken others in terms of circulation of wild poliovirus (WPV) and also exporting cases to neighboring West African countries. Between January and October this year, 242 cases of WPV have been reported from mainly the northern part of the country while eleven cases recently reported in Burkina Faso, Chad, Ghana and Togo have been traced to Nigeria.

Dr. Samba said this situation was unacceptable. "If polio is not eradicated in Nigeria, it will not be eradicated in the world", he warned. He added that failure in the polio campaign could compromise other campaigns including the new WHO 3 by 5 Anti Retroviral (ARV) Initiative, as such failure may lead to donor agencies withholding funding, because of situations such as that in Nigeria.

Dr. Samba therefore advised everybody, especially the technicians, to be honest and to work hard as a team for the success of the campaign, noting that there is no reason why we should fail. In his words, "polio eradication can be done and we have to do it".

While in the country, Dr. Samba will visit some of the polio endemic states, in company of the Minister of Health of Nigeria, Professor Eyitayo Lambo, and meet with political and traditional leaders.

For more information, please contact 
Mr. Austine Oghide 
NPO/HIP, WHO, 
443 Herbert Macaulay Road, Yaba Lagos. 
Tel: (234) 1 5453662-3; 2903276-7; 7737092-3, 08034022390. 
Fax: (234) 1 5452179 
E-mail: oghidea [at] who-nigeria.org