Suspicion and mistrust of Western medicine led Muslim religious leaders in three northern states of Nigeria to call for the 2003 boycott of the national polio vaccine campaign, according to a historical analysis in PLoS Medicine. The boycott led to fresh outbreaks of polio in Nigeria.
Ayodele Samuel Jegede (University of Ibadan, Nigeria), author of the analysis, says that the boycott needs to be considered in its proper historical and political context.
"The polio vaccination boycott," says Jegede, "should not be considered in isolation, but rather in the context of the history of orthodox health services in northern Nigeria.