The Global Polio Eradication Program, supported by the United Nation's World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, Rotary International, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), is planning to immunize 74 million African children in 22 countries in the coming months.

The purpose is to stem a wild polio epidemic, the epicenter of which is oil-rich Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa.

The vaccine program hit a snag last Fall when Islamic clerics in the predominantly Muslim-populated areas of northern Nigeria claimed the WHO program was a plot by westerners to depopulate the area. Laboratory tests revealed estrogen and other female sex hormones in the polio vaccine, proof that the vaccines were contaminated with substances that could cause sterility.

Furthermore, Nigerian officials became aware of internet reports suggesting the WHO vaccine might be contaminated with HIV (the AIDS virus) and other cancer-causing viruses. African blacks are as suspicious of government vaccines programs as American blacks.