Nigeria’s polio-free status calls for vigilance - WHO, FG

The World Health Organisation and the Federal Government have called for increased vigilance, environmental surveillance and expanded routine immunization, to prevent a resurgence of the disease in the country after it was certified wild poliovirus free, The Nations reports.

Also, other local and international partners have cautioned that as long as two countries – Afghanistan and Pakistan, still have cases of wild poliovirus, all hands must be on deck to prevent importation of the disease.

The Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, at a World Press Conference to mark Nigeria’s certification as a polio-free country, organised by the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), in Abuja, said, “Along with smallpox, wild poliovirus would be the second successful eradication of virus disease from Nigeria in the past forty years, according to The Nations.

“Concerning the risk of disease moving from one country to the other, part of what was done during that campaign in the North East was to extend the campaign into neighbouring countries. The immunisation campaign extended to Cameroon, Niger, and Chad.

“The concern of borders is still there but there is a strong collaboration from healthcare workers on both sides and the synchronisation of immunisation activities to reduce the concern and worries about cross border infections.”

The Executive Secretary of the NPHCDA, Dr Faisal Shuaib, said: “Finishing the job of polio eradication was never inevitable. It took a lot of work. We got here as a result of a formidable partnership led by the global polio eradication initiative (GPEI).

“President Muhammadu Buhari showed great statesmanship when it mattered the most in 2016 when he came out and encouraged polio eradication workers not to despair because of the setback. He went beyond that by giving N9.8bn to the polio eradication platform to sustain the work and contain the outbreak. He vaccinated his granddaughter with the oral polio vaccine.

“Most importantly, what has made it possible is the dedication of the frontline healthcare workers who made all of these possible. In the course of this journey, a lot of people suffered a great injury, some people lost their lives.