Nigeria Releases 57M Polio Vaccines, Aims To Increase Vaccine Coverage

The Nigerian government recently released 57 million doses of the trivalent oral polio vaccine for a nationwide campaign that concluded on Sunday, Nigeria’s Guardian newspaper reports. Additional campaigns are scheduled for July, August and October (Muanya, Guardian, 5/28). The Guardian published a related article exploring the government’s plans to “shore up immunization coverage in the race to meeting the health-related [U.N.] Millennium Development Goals of reducing significantly child and maternal deaths by 2015” (Muanya, Guardian, 5/29). 

Jakarta Post Examines Indonesia’s Provision of Health Care

Although a recent World Bank report highlights Indonesia’s “struggles to maintain and improve important health outcomes for the poor and achieve the Millennium Development Goals,” the report also finds “Indonesia’s growing economy, political stability and decentralization prospects now allow it to think expansively about healthcare,” the Jakarta Post reports. The article examines the Indonesian government’s “highly ambitious” plan to offer free medication to all citizens through the expansion of community health insurance and three World Bank-suggested approaches that would help the Indonesian government reach their goal by 2013 (Jakarta Post, 5/29).

Report Estimates Potential Impact of Circumcision Effort in Botswana on HIV/AIDS

Botswana’s campaign to circumcise nearly half a million men by 2012 will prevent almost 70,000 new HIV cases by 2025, according to a report published Thursday in the Journal of the International AIDS Society, AFP/Yahoo! News reports. The government’s national campaign aims to circumcise 460,000 boys over the age of five, and the country has begun airing television and radio advertisements to encourage men to be circumcised at local clinics. “Scaling up safe male circumcision has the potential to reduce the impact of HIV/AIDS in Botswana significantly,” according to the study. The report puts the estimated cost of the circumcision campaign at about $47 million (AFP/Yahoo! News, 5/28).