As Nigeria awaits to be formally certified polio-free in August, the Executive Secretary of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), warns that the country is still at risk of another epidemic, but assured that all actions particularly vaccination will be intensified to avert a resurgence.
The African Regional Commission for Certification of Polio Eradication (ARCC), an organ of the World Health Organization (WHO) on Thursday accepted Nigeria’s Wild Polio Virus Free Documentation after 30 years.
Shuaib speaking during a zoom meeting to celebrate the new status with some donor partners and stakeholders in Abuja on Friday said though the certification means that there is no wild polio-free virus anywhere in Nigeria, it doesn’t mean that the work is over and the virus can be imported from other endemic countries.
“As a matter of fact, even the harder work starts because we have to maintain this status, that means we have to continue to give our kids the vaccination that they need against the virus and all the other vaccine-preventable diseases, not forgetting that we still have Afghanistan and Pakistan that are endemic for wild polio viruses, that means there is still a potential that these viruses may be imported into Nigeria.
“We live in a global village, you can see how COVID-19 spreads so fast from China, by the same token, we could have wild polio virus spread from these two endemic countries,”, he said.
The Executive Secretary said though donor partners will withdraw finding, Nigeria has enough to sustain ongoing vaccination across the country including hard to reach communities. He said the government is gradually taking responsibility for health.
“The country will continue to make sure that we put in place all of the strategies, we will continue to look everywhere to make sure that there is no child anywhere in Nigeria that Abuja being paralysed from the wild poliovirus”, Shuaib said.
The Executive Secretary added that the National Assembly has committed enough resources to make sure that the agency has enough stock of all the vaccine needed and the operations needed to convey the vaccines to remote areas.
He also said the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) has also been signed into law and will be released in a few weeks for funding to be partitioned for vaccines.
“It’s an amazing opportunity that we have to make sure that we do not see a resurgence of the wild polio virus, an opportunity to make sure we protect all our kids from vaccine-preventable diseases.
“We are getting from state governors and traditional institutions, I think we are in a better place than were we are a few years ago, there is a steady increase in coverage. In 2015, we had 40 percent routine Immunization but, in 2018 it increased to 57 percent, we are at 67 percent now”, Shuaib added.
The Executive Secretary informed that the certification will take place between 24-28th August when a formal certificate will be awarded to the president.
He said the skills that have been garnered from the polio eradication programme are being deployed to eradicate COVID-19.
Osagie Ehanire, minister of health said the declaration of Nigeria polio-free dies not to mean the work is finished as the country is being threatened by the Coronavirus, and all stakeholders involved in the eradication of polio will not rest until the Coronavirus is defeated.
“We face a new enemy, there is the Coronavirus out there after we defeated the polio virus, there is no rest time, NPHCDA will also be in the battle to ensure that Nigeria is kept safe from another virus threatening the world”, Ehanire said.
