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Health - Reuters
Nigeria to Test Polio Vaccine to Counter Suspicion
Reuters
Wed Jan 28, 9:08 AM ET
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ABUJA, Nigeria (Reuters) - Nigeria is to test samples of the polio vaccine next month in the hope of resolving a dispute with Muslim authorities which has helped spread the crippling disease to children across Africa.

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Three predominantly Muslim states in northern Nigeria stopped immunizations in November because Islamic authorities suspect the vaccines of spreading infertility -- which they believe is part of an American conspiracy to depopulate Africa's most populous nation.

"A meeting has been scheduled in two weeks' time with all the states that are opposed to the immunization program," Health Minister Eyitayo Lambo told Reuters.

He said during the meeting, and in the presence of all, the vaccine would be tested for impurities.

Children in Burkina Faso, Chad and Central African Republic have contracted polio in the last few months and the World Health Organization (news - web sites) has pointed the finger of blame firmly at Nigeria, which accounted for half of all confirmed cases worldwide last year.

Nasiu Baba-Ahmed, Secretary-General of the Supreme Council for Sharia (Islamic law) in Nigeria, backed the idea of a joint test with the government. He said tests commissioned by Nigerian Islamic groups in Italy and India confirmed the presence of contaminants in vaccines taken from northern Nigeria.

The government says the vaccines are pure.

"There are serious suspicions of a conspiracy by the U.S. government to depopulate Nigeria, among other developing countries," he told Reuters.

"Unless a joint examination is undertaken, suspicions will linger and people will not be forthcoming."

If the joint test puts fears to rest, the minister said vaccinations would resume nationwide on February 23.

Nigeria is proving the main obstacle to the WHO's goal of eradicating polio globally by 2005.

Baba-Ahmed questioned why there was so much emphasis on polio, which affects hundreds of children in Nigeria, when thousands are killed every year by other preventable diseases such as measles, typhoid, malaria and meningitis.

Analysts warned the joint test may not clear up the dispute, as its roots went beyond purely scientific matters.

"The problem is geopolitical, not a health matter," said political commentator Pini Jason.

"The controversy over the vaccine is similar to the debate over Sharia. Those who oppose the vaccine are making a global political statement against the United States as regards its foreign policy to Islamic nations," he said.

The three objector states, Kano, Kaduna and Zamfara, are among 12 northern states which introduced sharia law soon after the return of democracy to Nigeria in 1999.

The adoption of sharia has fueled religious and ethnic violence, which has killed about 5,000 people over the past five years in the north of the oil exporting country.

 


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