Boko Haram Hampers Nigeria’s Fight Against Polio – Bill Gates

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Chairman of Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Mr. Bill Gates, has said the unrest in some part of northern Nigeria is hampering his foundation’s awareness and eradication campaign against polio virus in the country.

He said half of the children in the North-Eastern part of the country where there are insurgency were yet to be vaccinated as a result of crisis in the area.

Gates who spoke during a courtesy call on the Governor of Lagos, Mr Babatunde Fashola, disclosed that his foundation in partnership with Dangote Foundation had raised $6 billion to fight polio virus in some countries such as Nigeria, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Somalia and Syria, which he said, were still plagued with the virus.

Gates who was accompanied on the visit by  President of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote and top functionaries of the foundation,  expressed optimism that the polio virus would be eradicated, saying that he had partnered the Dangote Foundation to kick polio out of Africa.

In response, Fashola said:  “The tragedy of the existence of wild polio virus in this part of the world as one of the few parts is something we are not proud of.”

“However, I think we are in the march towards eradicating the virus. We have not put the voices of the survivors in the forefront of the campaign, the voices of the policy-makers have drowned those of the victims themselves,” he said.