United Nations issues polio warning

THE discovery of Botswana’s first polio case in 13 years is a wake-up call to other African countries believed to be free of the crippling disease, United Nations officials warned, amid a massive immunisation campaign.

Botswana is the ninth previously polio-free country on the continent to become reinfected following an outbreak in West and Central Africa.

Nigeria’s northern state of Kano has been the global epicentre of polio since last October, when authorities kept children from being inoculated because of persistent rumours the vaccines were unsafe. Botswana’s government obtained a High Court order last week, making it illegal for parents to refuse to have their children vaccinated.