“The 36-member Nigerian Governors’ Forum has launched a new initiative to rid the country of polio,” VOA News reports.

Polio vaccination campaigns have been hampered by some Muslim leaders who have “warned that the vaccine was an attempt to sterilize the population,” “[b]ut experts say the campaign can succeed if leaders, such as the governors, get involved and convince their citizens that the polio vaccine is harmless,” according to the news service. “The international medical community says the medication is safe and has no harmful effects on children,” VOA News writes (Mbonye, 8/18).