Rotary Club says the World Health Organisation is confirming a third case of polio in Nigeria: a crippled toddler found in an area newly liberated from Boko Haram Islāmic extremists.
The West African nation that once was the epicenter of the wild polio virus had been declared polio-free last year. But two cases were discovered last month among refugees from areas recently won back by Nigeria’s military.
It was an indicator that Nigeria’s war on polio cannot be won until it overcomes the insurgency by extremists who are violently opposed to Western medicine.
Rotary Club is part of a new emergency vaccination drive.
WHO has said the virus has circulated undetected for five years in Borno state, where Boko Haram began its Islāmic uprising in 2009.
