When Dangote and Gates opened exit gate for polio

PENULTIMATE week, Alhaji Aliko Dangote and his American counterpart, Mr Bill Gates, embarked on troubleshooting trips across Nigeria in their quest to ensure the nation becomes polio-free of polio.  The richest man in Africa is not happy that his country is among the three countries in the world that are yet to be certified polio free. Pakistan and Afghanistan are the other countries.

For the whole week Dangote Foundation and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which have been at the fore front as private sector partners in the process of eliminating polio globally, went on an assessment exercise in the areas affected by the disease and the neighbouring Chad Republic, where the two and their teams met with President Idris Deby and other key government officials in Ndjamena.

Polio is caused by a highly contagious virus specific to humans. The virus usually enters the environment in the feces of someone who is infected. In areas with poor sanitation, the virus easily spreads through the fecal-oral route, via contaminated water or food. In addition, direct contact with a person infected with the virus can cause polio. The infection with poliovirus and direct contact with persons increase the risk. Polio is a crippling and potentially fatal infectious disease. It is an infectious viral disease that affects the central nervous system and can cause temporary or permanent paralysis, most especially in the leg. Children not older than 5 years are more likely to contract the virus than any other group, therefore the epidemic inflicts economic loss of colossal dimension on a nation as youths, the future generation, which forms a plank of the productive population are affected.

According to World Health Organisation (WHO), a country is regarded as polio free if no cases have been detected for a year. However, no cases of the virus have been reported in the last sixteen months in Nigeria, but it is feared that it is still possible it is circulating under some prevailing circumstances as was the case where a particular strain of virus resurfaced after five years in 2016, which professionals adduced to inadequate surveillance and under-vaccinated populations. Even a single case is considered an epidemic.

Over the years, Dangote Foundation has been involved in causes that guarantee healthy life for the Nigerian child and reduce extreme poverty among the vulnerable especially women. It was in this spirit that he had deployed his resources and commitment to eradicating polio. The Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in one of its report on Polio eradication, said one of the problems they face  is the country’s broad social-political dynamics and enduring chasm between the governed and the government, and a decentralised governmental system that often neglect service delivery to marginalised communities. Other obstacles to polio eradication in Nigeria, as in many other countries, are the lack of health infrastructure, which limits vaccine distribution and delivery, internal strife occasioned by insurgents’ activities, which has made some areas in the North-East as hard-reach.

The visit to Chad was necessitated by the fact that Chad is next to Nigeria from North East where immunisation penetration has been very difficult. Any movement of the virus across the border might put Chad into jeopardy, hence the need to intensify immunisation in the country, especially in the islands close to the insurgents’ enclave. Besides, Chad is spending less than before on vaccines and routine immunisation operational costs – both in absolute terms as well as a proportion of total expenditures. Therefore, both Dangote and Gates were able to obtain commitment from Mr Deby to track the ability of the polio program to access, and actually go to all the 800 Chadian islands in the lake Convince with a promise to step up his political and financial support for routine immunisation.

The Chadian President signed a declaration in which he committed to increase immunisation rates in Chad, and also end polio in the region. Though Chad has not seen a case of wild polio since 2012, a 2016 polio outbreak in Nigeria placed those in neighbouring countries at risk, particularly children who live on the hard-to-reach islands of Lake Chad.

After the signing Dangote said all countries in the region—including Chad—share a responsibility to protect every child with polio vaccine. Until this happens, the risk of wild polio cases spreading remains.

• Our investment in Lekki Free Zone ‘ll earn Nigeria N8trn annually ―Dangote

“We are close to stopping polio on the continent, but we are not done yet. We want to save the lives of 250,000 child with application of the right vaccines. Unless we protect all children in Africa with the polio vaccine, the risk of the virus spreading will remain,” he said

“As a Nigerian, I have a responsibility to make sure that Africa is free from polio since my country has been the one exporting the virus for so many years. The polio outbreak in Borno a year and a half ago was a big setback because a lot of work had been done to get it under control. But I’m concerned about the risks that still remain. Nigeria cannot reach thousands of settlements, and its islands in Lake Chad because of Boko Haram. And until we do, you will need to be super vigilant on your side.

From Chad, the teams arrived at Sokoto State where they met with the Sultan, Saad Abubakar and the community heads, as well six governors from the Northern region on renewed commitment to intensify immunisation to ward of the polio virus and take Nigeria off the list of polio countries.

While thanking the Sultan for his commitment to ensuring that Nigeria is polio free, Dangote lamented that despite efforts being made to ensure the immunisation reached majority of the targeted populace, not much ground had been covered. In Kano, routine immunisation coverage 16 per cent while that of Sokoto is less than 5 per cent.

At the Sokoto Government House, Kaduna, Bornu, Yobe, Sokoto, Bauchi and Kano states’ governors signed a Memorandum of Understanding extending their commitment to counterpart responsibilities, including funding to deepening coverage of immunisation in their respective state.  However, before signing the MoU, the Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole, gave a presentation on the immunisation coverage in the areas, while Dangote urged the governors not to be distracted by the coming electioneering, but to focus on the polio endgame.

“We should keep the counter-part funding commitments; that we ensure the April and May campaigns are done well, and that LGA chairmen and district heads are involved in preparations and implementation of the campaigns. I am delighted to be here to sign these extensions and a letter of intent.  It signals that we are taking a development mindset to keep building our routine immunization programs as we begin to focus on broader primary health care. It means that governors, traditional fathers, commissioners, development partners, are all in this with us. Bill and I have seen amazing things happen in Nigeria with turning polio around—when people said it couldn’t be done. We know that the routine immunisation and Primary Health Care work is much different, and requires long term dedication.  It also requires us to keep our passion and motivation high.  It requires a sense of urgency to overtake a most dangerous and infectious disease,” he stated.