Africa has made a great deal of progress in its fight against polio, but the virus has still not been completely eradicated from the continent. One of the reasons given for the failure of previous efforts is that too few children were vaccinated, so the United Nations and the Red Cross have just announced that they are joining forces to launch a new initiative targeting 85 million children in west and Central Africa.
Previous attempts to wipe out the disease in Africa have been met with suspicion by religious leaders, “some of whom even suggested the vaccinations were an attempt to spread sterility and HIV.” Religious groups are now apparently supporting the vaccination drive however, and 400,000 health workers and volunteers will soon go door-to-door in 19 African countries, giving the oral vaccine to all children under the age of five. [BBC]
Polio (poliomyelitis) has plagued humanity since ancient times. Highly contagious and historically devastating, the virus attacks the nervous system, in some cases crippling or killing patients. The disease was virtually eliminated from the Western hemisphere in the latter part of the twentieth century after Jonas Salk developed a vaccine, and vaccination programs became widely available.
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