Of polio and measles in Malawi, Africa
While there were only 223 reported cases of polio in the year 2012 globally, according to the World Health Organisation, the threat for polio in many African countries still remains. Out of the reported cases in the year 2012, there were 121 polio cases in Somalia. However, polio cases have decreased by over 99 percent since 1988, from an estimated 350 000 cases to 223 reported cases in 2012. It is, however, interesting to know that only three countries (Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan) remain polio-endemic. This localisation of polio in these three countries is the result of the global effort to eradicate the disease in many countries around the world.
For those that had a chance to see how polio affects a human being, it is a disease that destroys one’s life within a short period of time. Sadly, this happens when one is a child and the child has no control over their health, being fully dependent on their parent or guardian. In a country where we still have people that were affected by polio, we cannot just sit back. It is, therefore, important for us to do something about the potential threat of polio. To date, over 10 million people are walking, who would otherwise have been paralysed. Recently, fears rose in many people about the reported polio outbreak in Kenya. Such threats will continue because some African countries remain endemic to polio.
Some people in Malawi may have forgotten the disease because of government’s comprehensive and effective immunisation programme that has put the virus towards extinction. However, let us not forget that polio is a highly infectious viral disease, which mainly affects children. The virus is transmitted through contaminated food and water, and multiplies in the intestine, from where it can invade the nervous system. Many infected people have no symptoms, but do excrete the virus in their faeces, hence transmitting infection to others.
On the other hand, measles is a common threat to many children, including adults. A disease that almost everyone knows in the households not only has the potential to kill but also drain the resources and time in caring for the patient other than doing other development activities. It is imperative for us all to know that measles is a highly infectious viral disease for which humans are the only reservoir. This, therefore, means humans continue and remain to be the source of infection. There is no other living thing (apart from the virus itself) that we can blame for harbouring measles other than ourselves as human beings. Because of our behaviours and the way we act towards any preventive measures of diseases founded by whether principles of religion or indeed tacit knowledge, we have created an environment where measles has flourished overtime. Malawi, like other countries, also has reserves for measles that is why in 1998, 1999 and 2010, we had reported cases of measles in different areas and sadly some people even died.
Therefore, the question we should ask is: should we really suffer from conditions that we can prevent? We all know, if you do not put on a seat belt while driving, the risk of you getting injured or even dying is very high when involved in an accident. Sadly, some ignore this fact. It is the same with communities and individuals who deliberately ignore government’s potent vaccines to prevent measles and polio. The fact remains that as long as a single child remains infected, children in all communities and perhaps as a country too, are at risk of contracting polio and measles. Failure to eradicate polio from these last remaining strongholds could result in as many as 200 000 new cases every year, within 10 years, all over the world.
The efforts that the Ministry of Health is putting across to ensure the public is protected from both measles and polio is one way of reducing the potential of suffering in the event that we are accidentally exposed to these viruses. Malawi last registered a confirmed clinical case of polio in 1992 and since then, government has strengthened the provision of the vaccine to children and those eligible. In a country where communicable and non-communicable disease are after everyone’s life, it is just prudent enough to take actions to prevent certain conditions that have proven ways of prevention other than wait for treatment. In the case of polio, we cannot take chances while in the case of measles, the consequence is even higher, death.
—The author is Ministry of Health public relations officer.
