SECRETARY-GENERAL CONCERNED OVER NIGER’S RISING POLITICAL TENSIONS

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today voiced concern over heightened political tensions in Niger following the decision by the African nation's leader to dissolve Parliament.

According to media reports, President Mamadou Tandja dissolved Niger's Parliament on 26 May, one day after the Constitutional Court ruled that he could not call a referendum on modifying the Constitution so he could run for a third term.

Mr. Ban said in a statement issued by his spokesperson that such developments "come at a time when Niger had made significant progress" in efforts to "consolidate democratic and economic progress" as well as to "resolve the Tuareg conflict," referring to the clashes in the northern part of the country.

"The Secretary-General urges all parties to act in full respect of the country's Constitution and to refrain from any action that would undermine Niger's democratic gains, as well as the stability of the country," the statement added.

Mr. Ban said he also welcomes the recent initiatives by regional leaders and urged the peaceful resolution of Niger's current problems.
________________

NIGERIA, NIGER HARDEST HIT BY 2009 MENINGITIS EPIDEMIC – UN HEALTH AGENCY

A vast majority of the nearly 25,000 suspected meningitis cases and more than 15,000 deaths worldwide in the first three months of 2009 have occurred in the so-called "African meningitis belt," hitting Nigeria and Niger the hardest, the United Nations health agency has reported.

The bulk of the cases in the meningitis belt, stretching from Senegal to Somalia, has been in northern Nigeria, reporting 17,462 suspected cases and 960 deaths, and Niger, with 4,513 suspected cases and 169 deaths, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Vaccination campaigns are underway in the two countries, with the support of WHO, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the non-governmental organization Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).

WHO, which is supporting the Nigerian Health Ministry's efforts to boost disease surveillance, has had technical experts on the ground since last month.

Along with its partners, WHO has released 2.3 million doses of vaccines to Nigeria and 1.9 million to Niger. Nearly 13 million doses were stockpiled for 2009, but more are needed for this meningitis season which will run from January through June.
________________

MASSIVE UN POLIO IMMUNIZATION CAMPAIGN UNDERWAY IN WEST AFRICA

MASSIVE UN POLIO IMMUNIZATION CAMPAIGN UNDERWAY IN WEST AFRICA
New York, Feb 27 2009 2:00PM

Some 53 million children under the age of five, including every girl and boy in Nigeria, have been targeted by a mass polio immunization campaign across West Africa, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) announced today.

The door-to-door polio eradication drive is planned to sweep through eight countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Mali, Niger, Togo, and Nigeria, aiming to reach every child even in the remotest of areas.

The campaign, employing 162,000 trained immunizers, will attempt to stop last year's outbreak which hit northern Nigeria and spread to six countries in West Africa after the wild polio virus had already re-infected Niger in 2007, as well as Chad and Cameroon in Central Africa.

"The highest priority was to reach every child in Nigeria, which was one of the four endemic countries, and in the high-risk areas across the region," said Miranda Eeles, a spokesperson for UNICEF.

The total cost of the campaign is $29 million for the seven countries, with an additional $38 million for Nigeria, including the cost of the vaccine, operational costs, social mobilization and surveillance.

The campaign, which kicked off today and started earlier this month in Ghana, involves the health ministries of all the countries, as well as support from UNICEF, the World Health Organization (WHO) and Rotary International, among others. It is being organized as part of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.

Contracted through contaminated food, water and faeces, polio is a highly infectious and incurable viral disease, which mainly affects children under five, attacking the nervous system. One in 200 infections leads to irreversible paralysis, usually in the legs, and among those paralyzed, five to 10 per cent die when their respiratory muscles become immobilized.
________________