The map to the left displays the territory size as a proportion of the worldwide polio cases from 2000 to 2005. The reason for the overwhelming amount of polio cases in Nigeria? The Nigerian Muslims boycott of the Polio Vaccine. The boycott began in the northern Islamic state of Kano in Nigeria and other Nigerian states quickly followed suit. Kano state officials have insisted that the vaccine is unhealthy based on the fact that in 2003, Nigerian health experts found estrogen and other female sex hormones in the vaccine. They claim this vaccination effort to be a U.S. plot to spread AIDS and infertility. As the boycott continues, polio cases have been reported in 7 other African countries where it was previously believed to be eradicated.
1 comment:
I still haven't found out WHY these rumors (about AIDS and infertility) spread in Nigeria but I was reading an interesting article about a similar situation in Northern India. The rumors were remarkably similar - the vaccine was a government plot to sterilize them. In this case the authors suggested that the fact these people had extremely poor healthcare facilities and had been neglected by both the government and other agencies naturally made them suspicious when men in white coats suddenly rolled up wanting to vaccinate everybody. I guess you can see their point.
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