Nigeria, which accounts for nearly three quarters of polio cases worldwide, is determined to halt the spread of the crippling disease by immunising all its children, its health minister declared on Thursday.

Nigeria’s Kano state banned polio immunisation in 2003 after Muslim elders said the vaccines were part of a Western plot to spread HIV and infertility. Immunisation resumed last July.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said the ban had helped spread the virus across Nigeria and into a dozen countries that had previously eradicated it.

But Nigerian Health Minister Eyitayo Lambo told AMN Health on Thursday that the number of states with polio had fallen to 16 from a peak of 30.

“We are determined to halt transmission. Given the quality of immunisation, commitment, resources and collaboration, I am sure we will halt it,” said Lambo, who was attending a meeting of African health ministers at the WHO to assess the latest drive against the disease.

“We are back on course since July; all states are on board. The anti-oral polio vaccine campaign is behind us,” Lambo said.

Polio mainly strikes children under five years old.

Campaigners had hoped to wipe out the disease last year, but the number of cases rose to 1,185 in 17 countries up from 784 in 15 countries in 2003. Asia halved its toll, but cases doubled in Africa to 1,037.

Nigeria accounted for 763 cases, followed by India with 129 and Sudan with 112.

SUDAN IMMUNISATION

The head of WHO’s polio eradication programme said there were also fears of outbreaks in the Gulf peninsula after a case surfaced in Saudi Arabia.

“Exports from Nigeria and Niger are still continuing,” David Heymann told Reuters.

“A case made its way from Sudan through Chad to Saudi Arabia two weeks ago. We fear transmission to Yemen and other parts of the Arab peninsula where there are very low levels of vaccination. It’s very important to stop transmission,” he said.

Heymann said immunisation was still difficult in the war-torn western Sudanese region of Darfur.

Sudan, which had been free of polio for three years before last year’s outbreak, is immunising its children this week, according to Health Minister Ahmed Ballal Osman.

“Especially after the signing of the peace with the south we can reach children,” he said, referring to a deal to end 21 years of civil war.

“We also have an agreement with rebels in Darfur so we can reach all areas,” he added.

Ivory Coast, where civil war erupted after a failed coup in 2002, is of growing concern with 16 cases in 2004 after none the previous year, according to WHO.

UNICEF said it was negotiating with authorities in Ivory Coast, which has not done vaccinations since October.

“With its central location, it could be the new focus of spreading,” said Christiane Dricot-d’Ans of the U.N. Children’s Fund.