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REPORT: Nigeria’s polio survivors not out of the woods yet, but the system hardly cares | The ICIR.

[Feb 20, 2020]

Survivors of polio in Kano State, Nigeria, sit on tricycles specially designed for people with disabilities. Photo: UNICEF/Sebastian Rich

'Kúnlé Adébàjò writes:

AS A CHILD growing up in Sango-Otta, Ogun State, Adeyemi Idowu loved to play soccer with friends. Like others in his age group, he also delighted in rolling tyres with a stick in his right hand as he scampered through the neighbourhood. But he soon had to bid farewell to that life of playful adventure as a result of poliomyelitis.

Commonly known by its abbreviation, polio, the crippling and infectious disease causes muscles to weaken. In the majority of people with the poliovirus, there are either minor symptoms or no symptoms at all. But this was not the case for Idowu, who before his fourth birthday suffered paralysis — a rare case of polio infection. 

It started as a headache for which he used a pain relief medicine known as Phensic. He relaxed, went out in the evening to play with friends, and returned to his mom’s grocery shop where he dozed off. After nightfall, she nudged him to wake up so they could go into the house. He tried standing up twice but fell back each time. The third time, his legs would not budge even slightly. Thinking he was just wobbly from sleep, she lifted and carried him to his room. By the next morning, Idowu had lost his ability to move anything but his eyes. After receiving treatment, he regained control of his upper body. His legs, which had grown significantly thinner, could not respond to treatment.

“I woke up one morning and the entire story of my life just changed,” he tries to summarise the experience.

With tremendous difficulty and rare determination, Idowu has since gone on to graduate from primary school, secondary school, university, and the Nigerian Law School (NLS). He was called to the bar last November and is now with the National Youth Service Corps. But it is not all rosy for the young lawyer as life with polio can be an unending struggle — no thanks to a condition known as the Post-Polio Syndrome (PPS).

Polio often affects children aged under five years and only causes irreversible paralysis in one out of 200 cases of infection. The World Health Organisation notes that, with only 33 reported incidents in 2018, “wild poliovirus cases have decreased by over 99 per cent since 1988”, owing to immunisation efforts stepped up by various international NGOs.

From contributing to over 50 per cent of all polio cases worldwide in 2012, Nigeria was declared last year to no longer be polio-endemic having gone over three years without incident. But one area not much attention has gone to is the medical and social needs of survivors of the disease many of whom are disabled and sometimes suffer from a secondary illness. Post-Polio Syndrome surfaces many years after the initial attack in the form of muscle weakness, severe fatigue, and pain in the limbs due to degenerating motor nerve cells.

There are about 11 million polio survivors in Nigeria, according to an estimate by the Disability Rights Advocacy Group (DRAC), and as many as 85 per cent could have symptoms of PPS. The problem is many do not know, including the sufferers themselves.

Post-Polio Syndrome. What’s that?

Post-Polio Syndrome affects different people in different ways. It might affect parts of the body originally infected by the poliovirus or disturb entirely new areas. Some polio survivors with PPS suddenly find it difficult climbing stairs, some have difficulty walking, and for others, the problem is unusual fatigue.

Idowu started noticing severe weakness in his hands, especially the right one when he got admitted into the University of Ibadan. He thinks this might be as a result of the pressure of taking notes and writing ceaselessly for several hours during examinations. He had no idea what PPS was until he visited the university clinic in his second year following advice of one of his lecturers, Bukola Akinbola.

“I started taking a few measures to correct it. I had to change some of the enhancements I was using,” he recalls. “For instance, when I got to the UI, I was using wooden crutches and I had to change them to aluminium ones.”

“A fii suru ni matter yen [one just has to be patient],” he chuckles sadly, referring to the physiotherapy. The necessary treatment just wasn’t affordable for the average person, let alone a student.

Explaining why awareness is still poor and many people suffering from PPS do not know, Roseline Ezenagu, executive director of Eccentric Support Initiative, says efforts have not been made to throw light on the condition using indigenous languages.

“People know about polio because the awareness is there already, but little or nothing is known about PPS,” she stresses.

Adeyemi Idowu outside the Nigerian Law School’s dining hall in February 2019.

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Nigeria's Joint External Evaluation and National Action Plan for Health Security | Health Security.

[Pay to View Full Text] [Published in Volume: 18 Issue 1: February 17, 2020]

Abstract.

Pakistan: Video: How this Quetta polio victim became an eradicator | Samaa English.

[Feb 21, 2020]

[View video report in source article]

Farzana, an anti-polio campaign supervisor in Quetta is working to eradicate the polio from her city. She was infected with polio when she was young and it affected her ability to walk.

She has now decided to protect others from this disease. She has been a supervisor of the anti-polio campaign for the past four years and goes door to door to make sure every child gets the anti-polio vaccination.

Farzana said it is very difficult for her to go door to door because of security issues in the area and her ability to walk. She has overcome these difficulties because she says she wants to protect other children from the disease.

Her parents and brother are proud of her. She also has the support of her neighbours. According to Farzana, the parents resistant to anti-polio vaccinations change their opinions after meeting her.

Pakistan: Teenage girl among two affected by polio in Punjab | DAWN.

[February 21, 2020] Ikram Junaidi writes:

ISLAMABAD: Two polio cases, including that of a teenage girl, have been reported from Punjab due to which the tally for the year 2019 has reached 146.

“We receive a number of samples of paralysed children but every child is not paralysed due to poliovirus. Although samples of the two children were collected on Dec 8 and 28 last year, the traces of virus were in minute quantity due to which we had to grow them. Finally it has been confirmed that both children were infected with the virus of the crippling disease,” National Manager Emergency Operation Centre on Polio Dr Rana Safdar said while talking to Dawn.

“We are in the year 2020 but as the samples were collected last year the cases have been placed on the list of 2019,” he said.

According to details a 54-month-old girl, resident of Lahore district, Ravi Town tehsil, Union Council (UC) 13, has been paralysed due to poliovirus. The child was vaccinated, but she was acutely malnourished due to which her immunity level was very low.

Other child is also a 14-year-old female, resident of Okara district and tehsil, UC 18.

Dr Safdar said that in cases, in which a teenager is infected with virus, paralysis is minute and mostly they live normal life.

As many as 146 cases of polio were reported last year as compared to 12 in 2018 and only eight in 2017. Moreover, during the current year 17 cases have been confirmed.

Last year, 92 cases were reported from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 30 from Sindh and 12 each from Punjab and Balochistan.

Polio is a highly infectious disease caused by poliovirus mainly affecting children under the age of five. It invades the nervous system and can cause paralysis or even death. While there is no cure for polio, vaccination is the most effective way to protect children from the crippling disease.

Each time a child is vaccinated, his/her protection against the virus is increased.

Repeated immunisations have protected millions of children from polio, allowing almost all countries in the world to become free of polio.

Polio this week as of 19 February 2020 | GPEI via ReliefWeb.

[Published: 19 Feb 2020] [Origin: View original]

• “Polio is one of the few diseases we can eradicate in the world in the next few years. This is a priority of the United Nations and I am extremely happy to see it is a clear priority for the Government of Pakistan.” – António Guterres, United Nations Secretary General during his recent visit to Pakistan. Read more…
• Summary of new viruses this week (AFP cases and environmental samples):
  • Afghanistan: two cVDPV2 positive environmental samples
  • Pakistan: five WPV1 cases and six WPV1 positive environmental samples
  • Angola: one cVDPV2 case
  • Côte d’Ivoire: six cVDPV2 positive environmental samples
  • Ethiopia: one cVDPV2 case
  • Ghana: two cVDPV2 cases
  • Philippines: one cVDPV2 positive environmental sample

See country sections below for more details.

NA: Onset of paralysis in most recent case is prior to 2017. Figures exclude non-AFP sources. In 2018, cVDPV includes all three serotypes 1, 2 and 3.

For Somalia: 1 cVDPV2 and cVDPV3 isolated from one AFP case.
cVDPV definition: see document “Reporting and classification of vaccine-derived polioviruses” at [pdf]

Polio: Nigeria leaves no stone unturned, targets over 55 million children in house-to-house nationwide campaign | World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa - WHO/AFRO via ReliefWeb.

[21 Feb 2020]

[Origin: View original]

Polio teams in Nomadic settlement in Borno State, North East Nigeria © WHO

Abuja, 20 February, 2020 - “My son Aliyu Abubakar is two months old, this is the first time he is receiving vaccination, going out there to take him was quite a hassle. I am glad the house-to house team is here to save us waiting time at vaccination post. My other children have taken complete doses of vaccine and are very healthy, this is the reason my husband insisted Aliyu gets vaccinated upon seeing your people”, says Hauwa Mohammed, a mother of three children at Wassa Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) Camp, Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Similarly, Hafsat Hammad, another resident of the IDP Camp said, “I have been here for six years, we are always happy when teams come here to vaccinate our children, my two children have gotten all doses of vaccines. I am expecting another baby and I will make sure he gets the same.

"I want to use this opportunity to call on all mothers to vaccinate their children because it is the best way to protect them from diseases. Especially for us living in camps where contacting diseases can be very easy”, she added.

Both respondents are parents of eligible children, part of the 55.5 million targeted population for the National Immunization Plus Days (NIPDs) campaign implemented in the 36+1 Nigerian States (12-18 February, 2020). With the realization that children are more vulnerable to infections, the campaign also administered other antigens against vaccine preventable diseases through fixed posts.

In FCT for instance, out of the 854,720 targeted children, the government with support from World Health Organization (WHO), successfully reached 810,859 with all vaccines.

Speaking on political will to maintain Polio-free status, the Minister of State for FCT, Dr Ramatu Tijani Aliyu reiterated the commitment of the Nigerian Government towards polio eradication and polio free certification of the African Region. She stated this at the flag off of the NIPDs organized by the FCT Primary Health Care Development Agency, in conjunction with the WHO FCT field office, UNICEF, Rotary and other partners, at Dutse Makaranta settlement, Bwari Area Council FCT, where 182 children were vaccinated with Oral Polio Vaccine.

“We have mandated six Area Council Chairmen to release counterpart funds prior to implementation of the campaign and attend daily evening review meetings to profer solutions to challenges encountered in the field.”

She also urged members of the community to vaccinate eligible children using the national schedule as she noted that, “Routine immunization and supplemental immunization activities are the strategies aimed for vaccinating children aged five and below one against poliomyelitis and other vaccine preventable diseases.”
NIPDs is a countrywide supplemental immunization exercise, geared towards ensuring herd immunity among children under five years against poliomyelitis and for maintain polio-free status. The February 2020 four-day campaign, targeted children of 0 – 59 months of age to be reached in their houses, markets, schools, churches, mosques, and playgrounds

Technical contacts
Dr Richard Banda; Email: Bandari@who.int; Tel: +234 803 535 4875
Dr Furera Zakari; Email: zakarif@who.int; Tel: +234 803 653 7795

CIDRAP News Scan for Feb 21, 2020 | The Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota.

US flu activity decreases; More polio in Pakistan.

Over 16 mn children receive polio vaccine under Egyptian government campaign: Minister | Egypt Independent.

[February 20, 2020]

Egypt’s national campaign to eradicate polio targeting Egyptians and non-Egyptians alike has succeeded in vaccinating 16,694,238 children aged between one day and five years old against the disease, Health Minister Hala Zayed said.

The campaign, held between February 16-19 nationwide, is a part of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s plan to boost healthcare as part of Egypt’s wider sustainable development goals.

Health Ministry spokesperson Khaled Megahed clarified that the results have exceeded the campaign’s target of 16.5 million children.

The campaign has also helped 21,213 non-Egyptian children get access to the polio vaccine, as part of efforts to provide medical services to foreigners in Egypt in accordance with the directives from President Sisi, according to Head of the Health Ministry’s Preventative Department Alaa Eid.

He explained that the campaign had positioned so-called “vaccination squads” – around 90,000 people – beside mosques, churches, clubs, markets, train and metro stations, parking lots, and public parks, as well as in rural and urban heath centers and maternity and child care facilities.

The campaign provided 3,300 cars to transfer the “squads” to the aforementioned locations during the four-day vaccination campaign, according to Eid.

The last polio case in Egypt was recorded in 2004, Eid said, with the World Health Organization having declared Egypt polio free in 2006.

Polio is a highly contagious disease caused by the poliovirus and usually affects children from one to five years of age. Initial symptoms of polio include fever, fatigue, headache, vomiting, stiffness of the neck, and pain in the limbs.

The disease in its most severe form can cause nerve injury leading to paralysis. According to the World Health Organization, about 1 in every 200 cases of the disease results in irreversible paralysis.

Worldwide campaigns to eradicate the illness have seen the number of polio cases worldwide fall from an estimated 350,000 in 1988 to 407 in 2013. However, polio remains endemic in Pakistan, Nigeria, and Afghanistan, according to the WHO.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

USA: Vaccine Exemption Debate Sparks Memories For Mainers Who Survived Polio | Maine Public.

[Originally published 4:18 p.m. Feb. 20, 2020]

Patty Wight writes:

In less than two weeks, Mainers will cast their votes on a referendum that seeks to repeal a new law that removes religious and philosophical exemptions for vaccines.

Rates of non-medical exemptions continue to rise in Maine, and they are currently more than double the national average. But whether successful or not, the repeal effort is stoking the memories of polio survivors who lived through a time when immunizations weren’t available for certain diseases.

Sitting at her dining room table in West Gardiner, 72-year old Ann Crocker sifts through a pile of photos from her childhood.

"This was a picture of me showing my family on that Sunday, 'Here look! I can take my first step.'" Crocker was taking that step after being seriously ill. "I had polio when I had just turned five. Three years before the Salk vaccine came out."

It was September of 1952, and Crocker remembers that she wasn't feeling well. She was sitting on a couch in her family's home in Livermore Falls drinking a cup of juice. At the time, polio paralyzed more than 16,000 people per year in the United States and caused more than 1,800 deaths. Crocker's mother worried about the virus, and Crocker tried to reassure her.

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One week polio vaccination campaign starts in Ghana | Ghana News Agency.

Edmund Quaynor and Janet Owusuwaa Ansah write:

Koforidua, Feb. 20, GNA - A one-week nationwide polio vaccination campaign to boost the immunity of children against all the three types of polio began in Ghana on February 19, which ends on the 25^th of the same month, this year.

It is on the theme: “IPV CATCH-UP CAMPAIGN 2020.”

Nana Dr Albert Antobre Boateng, the Deputy Eastern Regional Director of Health Services, in-charge of Public Health, at a stakeholders meeting on the exercise in Koforidua, explained that it was targeting 252,855 children under-five years in the Region.

He said the campaign was also to capture some children who missed the immunisation against some types of polio in 2016, 2017 and 2018 due to shortage of the vaccines.

The target age groups are nine months, one year, and four years.

The children would be injected with the Inactivated Polio Vaccine (IPV) on their right shoulder.

Dr Boateng said the vaccination would be conducted at all health facilities in the country, while some health staff would visit markets, communities and schools to conduct the vaccination.

He said the Eastern Region was among the nine regions in the country where a special health surveillance detected the polio virus, which was expected to have been eradicated.

Mr Richard Essien, the Eastern Regional Coordinator of the Expanded Programme of Immunisation (EPI), said there had not been any recorded adverse reaction to the vaccine, but urged parents to report to the nearest facilities if their children reacted to the vaccination.

He said Ghana had not recorded any polio case from 2008 until 2019.

The polio virus is easily spread through open defecation, which is being practiced in many parts of the country, he said.

Ms Bridgette Anim, the Eastern Regional Health Promotion Officer, called on the media to use their platforms to help promote the campaign.

She advised families sending their children for the vaccination to go along with their weighing cards.

GNA

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