Kebbi, April 2025 – In the modest community of Kambaza in Nigeria’s northwestern State of Kebbi, Malan Attahiru Aliyu was once a strong supporter of immunisation.
He actively ensured his children received all routine vaccines and participated fully in every polio vaccination campaign. His trust in the health system stayed resolute right until 2022, when his family for some odd reason was not given treated mosquito nets that help prevent malaria.
That single moment of exclusion planted a deep resentment towards the system. He felt that certain Gwandu Local Government Area (district) officials had deliberately avoided giving him treated mosquito nets that were meant for him and his family.
Feeling abandoned and unvalued, Malan’s frustration turned into a firm decision. He would no longer allow any of his children to receive the Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV), which prevents the highly contagious, crippling, and potentially killer polio disease.
What began as disappointment quietly escalated into dangerous resistance.
The consequences came swiftly and painfully. In December 2023, Malan’s youngest daughter, Maryam, just two years old, contracted a variant form of poliovirus. The diagnosis shook the community, but Malan remained resistant to logic. He stood firm in his decision to reject immunisation for his children. His household became a high-risk pocket of transmission, given that the poliovirus spreads through the oral-fecal route and the household was in neighbourhood with poor sanitation facilities.
Malan became a symbol of how vaccine refusal can threaten entire communities and put the lives of children at risk. Moreover, his refusal was seen across the state, and indeed nationally, as a threat to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GEPI).
Launched with the coming together of Heads of State of all United Nations member states in 1988, the Initiative has been working with Governments, partners, and the people themselves to successfully reduce the incidence of polio cases across the globe by 99.9 percent.
Between 1988 and 2021, the Initiative has helped prevent 24 million cases of childhood paralysis due to the poliovirus by vaccinating millions of children with the easy-to-administer Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV). But given how contagious the virus is, even one incidence of polio-affected children anywhere in the world is a danger everywhere.
Malan’s refusal was seen as a major challenge for the State of Kebbi and, indeed, for the whole of Nigeria.
Scores of influential persons visited Malan at this residence to placate him. Prominent personalities, including traditional leaders, tried to convince him to allow his children to take the OPV. Despite all efforts, he barely agreed to allow his youngest polio-affected daughter to take the vaccine so that she would stop shedding the poliovirus through her stool. But for his other children, below the age of five, who were clearly carrying the virus even though not affected by it, he refused to submit to logic.
At one point, all officials had given up on convincing Malan. Instead, a new resolve was made to increase the vaccination dosage of all other children in the community as a booster, protecting them from the crippling virus which Malan’s children were carrying.
But where others might have walked away, Hauwa’u Ubale, a passionate and tireless Volunteer Community Mobilizer (VCM), leaned in. Hauwa’u was one of the over 18,000 VCMs that UNICEF has trained to interact with parents and caregivers of children below the age of five. She is tasked with convincing parents to allow their children to receive OPV during each polio vaccination round.
In a year when there is an active poliovirus outbreak, the number of rounds per year can go up to almost once every month because OPV can only be effective in producing immunity in a child against the poliovirus if it is given to 95 per cent of all children below the age of five in at least three consecutive polio vaccination rounds.
Understanding the complexity of Malan's emotions—hurt, mistrust, and fear—Hauwa'u approached him with empathy and persistence. She did not confront or build pressure. Instead, she listened. She gave space for his anger. And she responded with compassion, facts, and a firm belief that no child should suffer the consequences of misinformation or disillusionment.
With each visit, Hauwa'u gently challenged his beliefs, reminding him that while he could buy mosquito nets, he could not buy immunity from polio. Only vaccines could protect his children from paralysis. Her patience was unwavering, and her conviction unshakeable.
Over time, a breakthrough emerged. Malan saw in Hauwa'u not just a health worker but a voice of truth and a protector of children. He finally agreed to fully vaccinate his two children who were still under the age of five. But the transformation did not end there.
Malan went beyond and became an advocate. Deeply affected by Maryam's illness and moved by Hauwa'u's dedication, he now shares his family's experience as a powerful cautionary tale. He goes door to door in his community, speaking to other hesitant parents—not with blame, but with urgency and empathy: "Don't wait for a diagnosis like mine. Protect your child before it's too late."
Now, he is a public advocate and part of teams that speak individually to parents and caregivers who prevent their eligible children from taking the polio vaccine during campaigns.
Malan and Hauwa’u are the foot soldiers of the Initiative, which is a public-private partnership led by the national governments of all United Nations member states with countless national partners and six global agencies: the World Health Organization (WHO), Rotary International, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Gates Foundation, and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.
Malan and Hauwa’u are local heroes, and thousands of community workers like them are empowering a social movement in Nigeria to root out all forms of poliovirus and help the world eradicate this punishing disease.
He actively ensured his children received all routine vaccines and participated fully in every polio vaccination campaign. His trust in the health system stayed resolute right until 2022, when his family for some odd reason was not given treated mosquito nets that help prevent malaria.
That single moment of exclusion planted a deep resentment towards the system. He felt that certain Gwandu Local Government Area (district) officials had deliberately avoided giving him treated mosquito nets that were meant for him and his family.
Feeling abandoned and unvalued, Malan’s frustration turned into a firm decision. He would no longer allow any of his children to receive the Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV), which prevents the highly contagious, crippling, and potentially killer polio disease.
What began as disappointment quietly escalated into dangerous resistance.
The consequences came swiftly and painfully. In December 2023, Malan’s youngest daughter, Maryam, just two years old, contracted a variant form of poliovirus. The diagnosis shook the community, but Malan remained resistant to logic. He stood firm in his decision to reject immunisation for his children. His household became a high-risk pocket of transmission, given that the poliovirus spreads through the oral-fecal route and the household was in neighbourhood with poor sanitation facilities.
Malan became a symbol of how vaccine refusal can threaten entire communities and put the lives of children at risk. Moreover, his refusal was seen across the state, and indeed nationally, as a threat to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GEPI).
Launched with the coming together of Heads of State of all United Nations member states in 1988, the Initiative has been working with Governments, partners, and the people themselves to successfully reduce the incidence of polio cases across the globe by 99.9 percent.
Between 1988 and 2021, the Initiative has helped prevent 24 million cases of childhood paralysis due to the poliovirus by vaccinating millions of children with the easy-to-administer Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV). But given how contagious the virus is, even one incidence of polio-affected children anywhere in the world is a danger everywhere.
Malan’s refusal was seen as a major challenge for the State of Kebbi and, indeed, for the whole of Nigeria.
Scores of influential persons visited Malan at this residence to placate him. Prominent personalities, including traditional leaders, tried to convince him to allow his children to take the OPV. Despite all efforts, he barely agreed to allow his youngest polio-affected daughter to take the vaccine so that she would stop shedding the poliovirus through her stool. But for his other children, below the age of five, who were clearly carrying the virus even though not affected by it, he refused to submit to logic.
At one point, all officials had given up on convincing Malan. Instead, a new resolve was made to increase the vaccination dosage of all other children in the community as a booster, protecting them from the crippling virus which Malan’s children were carrying.
But where others might have walked away, Hauwa’u Ubale, a passionate and tireless Volunteer Community Mobilizer (VCM), leaned in. Hauwa’u was one of the over 18,000 VCMs that UNICEF has trained to interact with parents and caregivers of children below the age of five. She is tasked with convincing parents to allow their children to receive OPV during each polio vaccination round.
In a year when there is an active poliovirus outbreak, the number of rounds per year can go up to almost once every month because OPV can only be effective in producing immunity in a child against the poliovirus if it is given to 95 per cent of all children below the age of five in at least three consecutive polio vaccination rounds.
Understanding the complexity of Malan's emotions—hurt, mistrust, and fear—Hauwa'u approached him with empathy and persistence. She did not confront or build pressure. Instead, she listened. She gave space for his anger. And she responded with compassion, facts, and a firm belief that no child should suffer the consequences of misinformation or disillusionment.
With each visit, Hauwa'u gently challenged his beliefs, reminding him that while he could buy mosquito nets, he could not buy immunity from polio. Only vaccines could protect his children from paralysis. Her patience was unwavering, and her conviction unshakeable.
Over time, a breakthrough emerged. Malan saw in Hauwa'u not just a health worker but a voice of truth and a protector of children. He finally agreed to fully vaccinate his two children who were still under the age of five. But the transformation did not end there.
Malan went beyond and became an advocate. Deeply affected by Maryam's illness and moved by Hauwa'u's dedication, he now shares his family's experience as a powerful cautionary tale. He goes door to door in his community, speaking to other hesitant parents—not with blame, but with urgency and empathy: "Don't wait for a diagnosis like mine. Protect your child before it's too late."
Now, he is a public advocate and part of teams that speak individually to parents and caregivers who prevent their eligible children from taking the polio vaccine during campaigns.
Malan and Hauwa’u are the foot soldiers of the Initiative, which is a public-private partnership led by the national governments of all United Nations member states with countless national partners and six global agencies: the World Health Organization (WHO), Rotary International, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Gates Foundation, and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.
Malan and Hauwa’u are local heroes, and thousands of community workers like them are empowering a social movement in Nigeria to root out all forms of poliovirus and help the world eradicate this punishing disease.
