African Nations Step Up Polio Battle

[gottaB]

LAGOS, Nigeria -- African leaders approved an emergency strategy Monday to immunize 74 million children for polio in 21 nations, U.N. officials said.

The approval came amid signs that a heavily Muslim state in Nigeria is ready to abandon it boycott of the vaccine, which allowed the disease to mushroom.

Kano, in northern Nigeria, has been the global epicenter of a polio resurgence since it refused last October to allow children to be innoculated because of persistent rumors the vaccines are part of a U.S.-led plot to spread AIDS or infertility among Muslims.

Kano has finalized a deal to import polio vaccines from a company in Indonesia, Kano government spokesman Sule Ya'u Sule said. State officials hope to permit children to be immunized in coming weeks once Kano government scientists approve the vaccines' safety, he added.

African Nations Step Up Polio Battle....

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see also http://allafrica.com/stories/200405171309.html