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Press Release

Unprecedented health initiative crosses borders to vaccinate 70 million African children against polio

Monday, 16 October, 2000: Leaders from West and Central Africa have launched the largest public health initiative in the region's history.

Over the next ten days, health workers and hundreds of thousands of volunteers in 17 countries in the region will join forces to immunize 70 million children against poliomyelitis. The effort is part of the global initiative to eradicate the crippling disease and certify the world polio-free by 2005.

"This regional initiative is a model of the integration we are trying to achieve through ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States). When the countries of Africa work together, we can accomplish so much," said the Chairman of ECOWAS, Malian President Alpha Oumar Konare.

President Konare joined President Mamadou Tandja of the Republic of Niger for the regional launching ceremony in Karma, a small village near Niamey, Niger's capital.

"In Niger we have worked hard to try to eradicate polio," said President Tandja. "But there is still much to do. We are very proud to now join the entire region in this massive effort to wipe out a disease which has crippled too many of Africa's children for too long."

President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria attended Nigeria's launching ceremony on October 14th. Nigeria is key to the effort because it is the largest remaining reservoir of wild poliovirus in Africa. In a video message on 27 September to a Global Polio Partners Summit at the United Nations in New York, President Obasanjo vowed his personal commitment to wipe out the virus in Nigeria. President Obasanjo has pledged US$ 15 million for the purchase of vaccines for NIDs in Nigeria in 2000 alone.

At the end of 1999, the poliovirus was circulating in only 30 countries in the world, 17 of which have had confirmed poliovirus transmission so far this year. The infected or at-risk countries which are synchronising their polio national immunization days (NIDs) include Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo. The first round is October 14 - 23rd, with a second round scheduled for the third week of November.

Synchronising NIDs is a key strategy in the effort to reach every child under five with polio vaccine, in a region where large labour migrations, conflict and natural disaster have caused frequent movement of populations across national boundaries. Volunteers and health workers across the region will be walking door-to-door where necessary, vaccinating children in every household.

"In past NIDs, we have missed children in areas which are difficult to reach. This time, we cannot afford to miss these children. And we won't," said Dr Antoine Kabore, representing the World Health Organization's Regional Office for Africa.

"Children in families who frequently cross borders are often missed altogether during regular NIDs. For the first time, health workers are setting up special immunization posts at key border crossings", said Dr Rima Salah, the Regional Director for UNICEF West and Central Africa. "It is the only way to be sure they are protected against polio."

Leaders are also asking warring parties in the region to stop fighting during the NIDs. "Where there is no peace, I ask that warring factions lay down their arms, if only for a few days. Allow the vaccinators in. Give them safe passage. They are there to help your children," said President Konare.

Since the Global Polio Eradication Initiative was launched in 1988, the number of polio cases globally has dropped from an estimated 350 000 in 1988 to 7 094 reported in 1999. Along with West and Central Africa, the virus still circulates in South Asia, including in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan.

The Global Polio Eradication Initiative is spearheaded by WHO, Rotary International, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). To date, Rotary has committed US$120 million for polio eradication in Africa. Worldwide, Rotary has contributed US$378 million to the protection of more than two billion children. By 2005, Rotary's financial commitment will reach nearly a half billion US dollars.

"In Niger alone Rotary International has contributed over US$ 4 million to eradicate this crippling disease. All across the region, hundreds of Rotarians will continue to volunteer, raise funds and advocate for a polio-free Africa, and a polio-free world," said Gaston Kaba, the Chair of Rotary's National PolioPlus Committee in Niger.

Several countries will also be giving Vitamin A to children along with the polio vaccine. "We all know that Vitamin A reduces childhood mortality by 23 per cent and it also saves children's eyesight," said Xavier Crespin of Helen Keller International. "These synchronised NIDs are a tremendous opportunity to not only put an end to polio, but to save children from other deadly diseases."

This polio eradication coalition also includes national governments; private foundations (e.g. United Nations Foundation, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation); development banks (e.g. World Bank); donor governments (e.g. Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Portugal, United Kingdom and United States of America); humanitarian organizations (e.g. the International Red Cross and Red Crescent movement) and corporate partners (e.g. Aventis Pasteur, De Beers). Volunteers in developing countries also play a key role; ten million have participated in mass immunization campaigns.

Please email media@unicef.org with comments or requests for more information