Nigeria, once considered the most challenging country to end Polio disease, on Thursday celebrated the three years of the last reported case in the country.
The Global Polio Eradication Initiative joined Nigeria and the global community in celebrating a historic global health milestone – three years of the last case of wild polio.
Speaking at a celebratory event on Thursday in Abuja, Dr
Walter Kazadi Mulombo, WHO Country Representative, Nigeria, praised the Federal
Government’s efforts to rid the country of the virus.
He, however, emphasised the importance of continued
attention and focus to keep the country polio-free.
Mulombo said that the country’s success was due to
remarkable commitment at all levels, from the highest reaches of government to
the heroic vaccinators delivering polio drops to local communities across the
country.
The WHO representative said that the country’s triumph was a
landmark achievement that would vastly benefit children’s health in the country
and around the world.
He said that the infrastructure and innovations that helped
the country reach the poorest and most marginalised were now being used to
deliver other health interventions like COVID-19, Rotavaccine, measles, and
yellow fever vaccines.
“As we celebrate this occasion, we must continue to
celebrate all those who paid the supreme price getting us here. We will
continue to remember them,” he said.
According to him, the last case of WPV was reported in
Borno. It was a case of a near miss for Nigeria to attain certification in
2016.
“Each year over 270 million doses of polio vaccines were
administered from greater investments and efforts were made to reach vulnerable
populations.”
Such populations included the nomads, non-complaints,
hard-to-reach, riverine populations and those in areas affected by conflicts.
“Nigeria became the template for the Global Polio Programme
for innovations, best practices and demonstration of leadership and ownership
at national and sub-national levels.
“This was achieved through the Accountability Framework.
In recognition of this, the Regional Director in April 2022,
issued three awards of excellence to Nigeria for the implementation of the
Audio-visual Acute Flaccid Paralysis Detection and Reporting (AVADAR) that
brought communities close to detection and reporting of AFP cases
Recognising the magnitude of immunisation, the
Representative of UNICEF Nigeria, Dr Eduardo Celades Blanco, UNICEF Nigeria
Chief of Health, stressed the need for investing in Primary Healthcare Centres
(PHCs).
Blanco reiterated that polio anywhere was a threat to
children everywhere.
While congratulating the country on the milestone, Blanco
said that UNICEF would continue to support the joint efforts to eradicate all
preventable diseases in the country.
He said that it was time for Nigeria to further strengthen
immunisations.
“Nigeria has also established dedicated and trained
frontline workers and community mobilisers, a stronger network of religious and
traditional leaders and community members to support the vaccination programme.
“Social mobilisers from the polio programme are counselling
pregnant women on breastfeeding and providing newborns with routine
Immunisations, and the polio surveillance system is helping build capacity for
the country’s Universal Immunisation Programme,” he said.
Dr Umar Adamu, Incident Manager, Polio Emergency Operations
Centre (EOC), NPHCDA, said it had been three years since Nigeria saw its last
case of wild poliovirus.
“While this is a cause for celebration, it also intensifies
continuous vigilance across the country.
“Today is a milestone occasion for Nigeria, three years
since the detection of the last case of poliovirus in the country.
“With significant commitment and hard work, we have
effectively raised population immunity to the virus, and improved disease
surveillance to help pick up any trace of the disease.
“On behalf of the Federal Government and the NPHCDA, we say
a big ‘thank you to everyone who made the polio virus-free status a reality,”
he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Nigeria
celebrated the three years of a viral illness caused by poliovirus that can
lead to paralysis, limb deformities, breathing problems or even death.
Poliovirus resides only in humans and passes on to the
environment in the faeces of someone.
Nigeria is the latest country to have officially stopped
endemic transmission of wild poliovirus, with its last reported case in 2016.
Wild poliovirus has been eradicated in all continents except
Asia, and as of 2020, Afghanistan and Pakistan are the only two countries where
the disease is still classified as endemic.
Recent polio cases arose from two sources, the original wild
poliovirus (WPV), and the much more prevalent mutated oral vaccine strains,
so-called circulating Vaccine-derived Poliovirus (cVDPV).
Vaccines against each of the three wild strains of polio
have given rise to strains of cVDPV, with cVDPV2 being the most prominent.
The cVDPV caused 689 reported paralytic polio cases
worldwide in 2021.
Experts said there were six reported WPV cases in 2021, a
decrease from 2019’s five-year high and a 99.2 per cent reduction from the 719
diagnosed cases in 2000.
Of the three strains of WPV, the last recorded wild case
caused by type 2 (WPV2) was in 1999, and it was declared eradicated in 2015.
Type three (WPV3) is last known to have caused polio in 2012
and was declared eradicated in 2019. All wild-virus cases since that date have
been due to type 1 (WPV1).
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