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Journalists mobilize to improve polio vaccination in northern Nigeria
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Recent findings published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases showed that acceptance of the polio vaccine improved in northern Nigeria due to the partnership between WHO and journalists created in 2007. Before that, the polio eradication initiative suffered setbacks due to negative media campaigns led by scholars and Islamic clerics.
“The World Health Organization recognized the position of strength of the media and that journalists were a major group in spreading the negative campaign and therefore could equally be agents-of-change to resolve the impasse,” Charity Warigon, MSc, communications officer at the WHO Nigeria Country Office, told Infectious Disease News. “WHO decided to assist in setting up the Journalists Initiatives on Immunization Against Polio (JAP) and sustain partnership with the group to counter the further spread of the negative messages and reach erstwhile unvaccinated children.”
Charity Warigon
In 2004, media campaigns in northern Nigeria warned that oral polio vaccine contained antifertility drugs or HIV, which led to lower vaccination rates and a resurgence of polio, according to researchers. By the end of 2006, Nigeria had 1,124 children with polio caused by wild poliovirus — 56% of the global burden.
To fight the negative media campaigns, researchers from WHO determined the eight most influential journalists who supported immunization. After meeting with the journalists in 2007, the researchers briefed them on the status of polio eradication, the number of children paralyzed and the negative effects of anti-vaccine campaigns in the media. This group of journalists became the JAP, and they performed the following tasks:
- promoted public awareness of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative;
- encouraged fellow journalists to mobilize against the negative media campaigns;
- sought support from religious and community leaders;
- monitored immunization practices; and
- provided feedback to the communities on their progress.
The researchers found that more than 500 news reports had been published since the creation of the JAP, and that most of these reports portrayed vaccination positively. In June 2015, during supplementary immunization activities (SIA), or mass immunization campaigns, in high-risk areas of Kaduna State, JAP interventions resulted in the vaccination of 5,122 of 5,991 children from noncompliant households. In addition, from January to March 2007, before and after JAP was formed, the number of caregivers who heard about SIA rounds from the media increased from 26% to 33%.
“The partnership with JAP assisted to create a consciousness among fellow journalists and bringing to the fore their social responsibility in increasing population immunity and promoting routine immunization and disease surveillance,” Warigon said. “This is one of the legacies that the WHO Polio structure in Nigeria has built for future public health interventions.” – by Will Offit
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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