The World Health Organisation (WHO) and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said Nigeria recorded a 50 percent decline in the number of polio cases in the second quarter of this year.
This is contained in a statement signed and issued on Wednesday in Abuja by Geoffery Njoku, a communication specialist at UNICEF.
“Nigeria is making progress toward the target of stopping polio. To date in 2013, Nigeria has reported a 50 percent decline in the number of cases with 25 cases in nine states, compared to 54 cases in 10 states for the same period in 2012.”
The statement noted that more than 60 percent of the cases in 2013 occurred in the security-compromised areas of Borno and Yobe states which offered limited access to children for vaccination.
It said that Nigeria’s polio programme had surged forward and was making progress as outlined by recent report of the global Independent Monitoring Board for polio eradication.
Join BusinessDay whatsapp Channel, to stay up to date
Open In Whatsapp
