Nigeria, key to wiping out polio in Africa, makes gains

By Stephanie Nebehay

GENEVA (Reuters) - Nigeria, seen as the key to wiping out polio in Africa, has made impressive gains against the disease in the year since religious leaders backed vaccination, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Friday.

A mass immunisation campaign targeting 85 million children in west and central Africa will be launched this weekend to halt the virus which spread out from northern Nigeria and sparked outbreaks in 17 African countries since 2008.

Only one polio case has been recorded so far this year in Nigeria, against 42 cases at this time a year ago in Africa's most populous nation, according to the United Nations agency.

"Nigeria's success is Africa's success. If we can eradicate polio in Nigeria we should be able to have Africa polio-free very quickly," WHO spokesman Rod Curtis told Reuters. "It is looking incredible."

Polio, which spreads in areas with poor sanitation, attacks the nervous system and can cause irreversible paralysis within hours of infection. Children under the age of 3 are most vulnerable to the disease that until the 1950s crippled thousands of people every year in rich nations.

Nigeria has struggled to contain polio since some northern states imposed a year-long vaccine ban in mid-2003. Some state governors and religious leaders in the predominantly Muslim north alleged the vaccines were contaminated by Western powers to spread sterility and HIV/AIDS among Muslims.

But traditional leaders throughout the country pledged in January 2009 to support immunisation campaigns and are pushing parents to have their children vaccinated, the WHO says.

"Traditional and religious leadership has facilitated us reaching more children. The number of cases has collapsed," Curtis said, noting there was a total of 388 cases last year.