Nigeria targets polio eradication by December 2014

Following efforts of the World Health Organisation, the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), Rotary International, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, governments and many other partners in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative to eradicate polio globally, the Federal Government said it is targeting to gain a polio-free nation by the end of December this year.

The country has recorded only six cases of polio in two states so far in 2014, compared to 48 cases in nine states for the same period in 2013.

Khaliru Al-Hassan, minister of state and supervising minister of health, revealed that the target is by December 2014, the nation will interrupt the transmission of Wild Polio Virus (WPV)

According to Al-Hassan “With all the indicators that we have now, we can do it. We are confident that it will happen. The country has achieved geographic restriction of the virus by over 88 per cent while the genetic cluster of WPV circulating in Nigeria has been drastically reduced from eight to one. These are unprecedented feats that rekindled the global community’s confidence in Nigeria’s efforts at making the country polio-free.

“Nigeria is one of the remaining polio endemic countries and is currently acknowledged globally as one that has made the greatest progress towards eradication in the last one year. This is evidenced by the fact that while Nigeria has reported only six cases of wild polio virus as at October 15, 2014, Afghanistan has 12 while Pakistan has 206 cases.”

The Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) report as of 22 October 2014 reveals that no new wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases were reported in the past week. While Nigeria’s total case count for 2014 remains 6, the report reveal that the most recent case had onset of paralysis on 24 July in Sumaila Local Government Area (LGA), southern Kano state.

“No new type 2 circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus (cVDPV2) cases were reported in the past week. The total number of cVDPV2 cases for 2014 remains 20. The most recent cVDPV2 case had onset of paralysis on 17 August 2014 in Kano. Subnational Immunization Days (SNIDs) will be held 1-4 November in northern Nigeria using trivalent oral polio vaccine (OPV). In some areas of Kano and Yobe states, supplementary immunization activities using inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) will also take place in November 2014,” the report stated.

This laudable achievement is in line with recent feedback from the Expert Review Committee (ERC) on Polio and Routine Immunization in Nigeria which revealed that the country is on the verge of making history by eradicating polio and so, the entire nation must be made aware, rallied and mobilized to capitalize on this unique window of opportunity

Oyewole Tomori, chairman of the ERC, cautioned against early celebrations since as he observed, historical antecedents have taught the programme to be wary of electioneering seasons  because ‘national elections in 2003, 2007 and 2011 have caused distractions in anti-polio activities as commitment, advocacy and funds dry up or are diverted to other uses’.

Ado Mohammed, executive director, Primary Health Care development Agency (NPHCDA) stated that with the unprecedented progress made in polio eradication and learning from the past experiences, the Agency has been proactive in such a way that at the sub-national level, it continues to ensure that the commitment at the state, local and community levels are in tune with the Federal Government.

In the meantime, Rui Gama Vaz, WHO Country Representative for Nigeria, has drawn attention on the need to further intensify cross- border immunizations based on the threat of importations from neighbouring countries and charged the ERC to define the main priorities with recommended timelines to enable the Presidential Task Force and National Polio Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) to develop a plan on how to implement the final recommendations.

Alexander Chiejina