Polio: Steering Lebanon away from the brink

In the middle part of the last decade, religious figures in Nigeria brought a halt to polio vaccination campaigns in much of the north of the country. Unsurprisingly, an outbreak of the disease occurred only a few years later, with dozens of children getting sick. It spread rapidly out of control, with strands of the disease being detected across large parts of Africa and eventually making it as far as Indonesia. In total 27 countries were affected before it was brought under control. Dr. Hassan El Bushra, head of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Lebanon, retells the story as a warning about the danger of domino effects. “One country not responding is a threat to others,” Bushra says. In response to the logical follow on question — is Syria the new Nigeria? — he simply says “exactly.” Since Syria’s three-year civil war began, the violence has destroyed healthcare facilities