After years of frustrating pushback, Africa may soon be able to declare itself polio-free.
The disease that affects mostly children under 5 and can lead to irreversible paralysis, has been all but wiped out in Africa -- except for in Nigeria. There, religious leaders often interfered with vaccination campaigns, but thanks to increased efforts, the country hasn’t seen a new polio case since July of last year, NPR’s Goats and Soda reported.
If Nigeria reaches a full year where no new diagnoses are made, the World Health Organization will declare it free from the disease.
While global campaigns have been able to eradicate polio in places as challenging to reach rural families as India, Nigeria presented a unique set of issues since leaders there didn’t trust vaccinators’ intentions.
Besides for Nigeria, the disease is still a risk in Afghanistan and Pakistan, according to WHO.
Nigerians grew suspicious of vaccines in part due to a scandal in 1996 when pharmaceutical company Pfizer doled out an experimental drug to treat a meningitis outbreak in Kano. Eleven children died as a result and dozens developed disabilities, according to the BBC.
Some religious leaders deemed the vaccinations efforts as part of a Western conspiracy to sterilize Muslim children, according to NPR.
In 2003, vaccination programs were suspended in Kano. And in 2013, gunmen killed nine polio immunization workers in Northern Nigeria at two clinics after a four-day vaccination drive, according to The New York Times.
To help educate people about the efficacy of vaccines, programs have dispatched mobilization workers who teach families about the positive effects of such health precautions, according to the BBC.
But sometimes, just seeing the effects of polio firsthand is enough to motivate families to vaccinate their children.
Usman Al Hassan, who lives on the outskirts of Nigeria's capital, Abuja, is distraught that one of his 14 children wasn’t vaccinated after a group of workers “missed” his home. Al Hassan’s son developed the disease and is now paralyzed.
"People are aware, now they know that the disease is real," says Yakubu Yahaya, a social mobilization officer, told the BBC.
Even though families are becoming more accepting of such programs, immunization workers still face inherent challenges.
For one, many nomadic families are often on the move and don’t have a fixed address where they can be reached.
To help hone in on vulnerable areas, a number of programs are employing satellite technology to track vaccinators’ efforts, according to All Africa.
But advocates remain bolstered by the continued positive response they’ve been getting from families they’ve reached out to.
"So far we have not encountered any resistance from parents in all the homes we have visited,” Fauziyya Ahmed, leader of a vaccination campaign, told All Africa. "People now accept the polio vaccine as safe for their children, unlike in the past, when parents were hostile to vaccinators and would call them names."
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