[00:00.10]From VOA Learning English,
[00:02.46]this is the Health Report.
[00:05.97]Researchers have appealed for new efforts
[00:10.02]to stop polio in countries
[00:13.36]where the disease never seems to disappear.
[00:18.09]They say stronger health systems
[00:21.19]and greater community involvement are needed
[00:24.99]in three such countries
[00:26.99]– Nigeria, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
[00:32.41]All three have faced attacks by militants,
[00:36.66]political unrest and a lack of trust among the populations.
[00:43.21]The researchers made them appear
[00:46.54]in the publication PLOS Medicine.
[00:50.13]Seye Abimbola works for Nigeria's
[00:54.28]National Primary Health Care Development Agency.
[00:59.09]He says it's time to move away from what has been called
[01:04.68]a leader-centric approach to polio eradication.
[01:10.45]Such a methodology plays more importance
[01:15.10]on leadership than shared responsibility.
[01:20.16]Dr. Abimbola says parents often have reasonable concerns
[01:27.01]about the safety of vaccines.
[01:30.91]He says some families may have lost one or two children
[01:37.07]to diseases like pneumonia, malaria, and diarrhea.
[01:43.11]A mother he says may wonder what the government
[01:48.19]is doing about sicknesses other than polio.
[01:52.13]Dr. Abimbola says polio immunization
[01:57.30]should be part of a larger health
[02:00.30]and development intervention program.
[02:03.69]He writes, "the ambition of the global health community
[02:09.30]to eradicate polio appears to be blinding it
[02:15.66]to lessons learned about health systems over the past 30 years."
[02:22.49]He says it is now more important than ever
[02:26.95]to deal with people who distrust polio prevention
[02:32.59]as human beings with real concerns, not as an opponent.
[02:39.64]Further, he says it is important to somehow
[02:44.09]show militant groups that health interventions are necessary.
[02:50.65]For example, aid agencies say there have been cases
[02:56.00]when even the Taliban in Afghanistan
[02:59.94]has supported immunization campaigns against polio.
[03:05.88]Seye Abimbola says the Afghan Taliban approves of action against polio,
[03:14.97]because the group thinks of itself
[03:18.41]as waiting to take control of the government.
[03:22.40]In his words, when a militant group
[03:25.81]wants the trust of the people,
[03:28.47]they go at it by trying to do what the people want.
[03:35.03]The doctor sees the support of the Taliban
[03:38.83]as its way of seeking to gain legitimacy,
[03:44.18]trying to seem responsible and worthy of governing.
[03:50.23]And that's the Health Report from VOA Learning English.
[03:54.68]I'm Milagros Ardin.