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Nigerian state to jail parents who resist polio vaccine
Posted: 29-Apr-2005 18:51 hrs, Singapore
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| A medical worker vaccinates a child against
polio. Katsina State in northern Nigeria will jail any parents who refuse to
allow health workers to vaccinate their children against the crippling polio
virus, a senior official said. |
Katsina State in northern Nigeria will jail any parents who refuse to allow
health workers to vaccinate their children against the crippling polio virus, a
senior official said.
.
Northern Nigeria is home to the world's biggest remaining pocket of polio
infections and resistance from Muslim families, who fear a plot to sterilise
infant girls, has endangered a plan to eradicate the disease this year.
.
Abdullahi Garba Faskari, the state's justice commissioner, said that the
government would extend a law designed to enforce yellow fever jabs to cover the
oral polio vaccine, which Nigerian and UN health workers are distributing.
.
"The government will henceforth arrest and prosecute any parent who refuses to
have his child immunised against polio. Such a parent will get between six
months and one year in jail without an option of fine," Faskari said.
.
"In view of the baseless resistance by some parents ... and the molestation of
vaccinators by parents in some areas, the government feels duty bound to take
measures that will bring this madness to an end," he said.
.
"The refusal of some parents to immunise their children against polio is causing
a serious setback in our fight to eradicate polio in our society and we will
take any action necessary to change this attitude", he explained.
.
Nigeria has almost two-thirds of the cases of polio in the world -- 788 infants
were paralysed by the crippling disease last year, more than twice as many as in
2003 -- and is the main target for a global eradication campaign.
.
The UN World Health Organisation and the UN Children's Fund UNICEF are working
with Nigerian officials to promote a series of massive immunisation drives
designed to protect 15 million infants by the end of 2005. - AFP
Katsina State in northern Nigeria will jail any parents who refuse to allow
health workers to vaccinate their children against the crippling polio virus, a
senior official said.
.
Northern Nigeria is home to the world's biggest remaining pocket of polio
infections and resistance from Muslim families, who fear a plot to sterilise
infant girls, has endangered a plan to eradicate the disease this year.
.
Abdullahi Garba Faskari, the state's justice commissioner, said that the
government would extend a law designed to enforce yellow fever jabs to cover the
oral polio vaccine, which Nigerian and UN health workers are distributing.
.
"The government will henceforth arrest and prosecute any parent who refuses to
have his child immunised against polio. Such a parent will get between six
months and one year in jail without an option of fine," Faskari said.
.
"In view of the baseless resistance by some parents ... and the molestation of
vaccinators by parents in some areas, the government feels duty bound to take
measures that will bring this madness to an end," he said.
.
"The refusal of some parents to immunise their children against polio is causing
a serious setback in our fight to eradicate polio in our society and we will
take any action necessary to change this attitude", he explained.
.
Nigeria has almost two-thirds of the cases of polio in the world -- 788 infants
were paralysed by the crippling disease last year, more than twice as many as in
2003 -- and is the main target for a global eradication campaign.
.
The UN World Health Organisation and the UN Children's Fund UNICEF are working
with Nigerian officials to promote a series of massive immunisation drives
designed to protect 15 million infants by the end of 2005. - AFP Katsina State
in northern Nigeria will jail any parents who refuse to allow health workers to
vaccinate their children against the crippling polio virus, a senior official
said.
.
Northern Nigeria is home to the world's biggest remaining pocket of polio
infections and resistance from Muslim families, who fear a plot to sterilise
infant girls, has endangered a plan to eradicate the disease this year.
.
Abdullahi Garba Faskari, the state's justice commissioner, said that the
government would extend a law designed to enforce yellow fever jabs to cover the
oral polio vaccine, which Nigerian and UN health workers are distributing.
.
"The government will henceforth arrest and prosecute any parent who refuses to
have his child immunised against polio. Such a parent will get between six
months and one year in jail without an option of fine," Faskari said.
.
"In view of the baseless resistance by some parents ... and the molestation of
vaccinators by parents in some areas, the government feels duty bound to take
measures that will bring this madness to an end," he said.
.
"The refusal of some parents to immunise their children against polio is causing
a serious setback in our fight to eradicate polio in our society and we will
take any action necessary to change this attitude", he explained.
.
Nigeria has almost two-thirds of the cases of polio in the world -- 788 infants
were paralysed by the crippling disease last year, more than twice as many as in
2003 -- and is the main target for a global eradication campaign.
.
The UN World Health Organisation and the UN Children's Fund UNICEF are working
with Nigerian officials to promote a series of massive immunisation drives
designed to protect 15 million infants by the end of 2005. - AFP Katsina State
in northern Nigeria will jail any parents who refuse to allow health workers to
vaccinate their children against the crippling polio virus, a senior official
said.
.
Northern Nigeria is home to the world's biggest remaining pocket of polio
infections and resistance from Muslim families, who fear a plot to sterilise
infant girls, has endangered a plan to eradicate the disease this year.
.
Abdullahi Garba Faskari, the state's justice commissioner, said that the
government would extend a law designed to enforce yellow fever jabs to cover the
oral polio vaccine, which Nigerian and UN health workers are distributing.
.
"The government will henceforth arrest and prosecute any parent who refuses to
have his child immunised against polio. Such a parent will get between six
months and one year in jail without an option of fine," Faskari said.
.
"In view of the baseless resistance by some parents ... and the molestation of
vaccinators by parents in some areas, the government feels duty bound to take
measures that will bring this madness to an end," he said.
.
"The refusal of some parents to immunise their children against polio is causing
a serious setback in our fight to eradicate polio in our society and we will
take any action necessary to change this attitude", he explained.
.
Nigeria has almost two-thirds of the cases of polio in the world -- 788 infants
were paralysed by the crippling disease last year, more than twice as many as in
2003 -- and is the main target for a global eradication campaign.
.
The UN World Health Organisation and the UN Children's Fund UNICEF are working
with Nigerian officials to promote a series of massive immunisation drives
designed to protect 15 million infants by the end of 2005. - AF
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