Relief! See How Nigeria Is Faring In The Fight Against Polio
In a welcome development, World Health Organization (WHO) has certified Nigeria a polio free country, after three consecutive years of non record of outbreak.
The process of certification which commenced few months ago culminated in the complete documentation on Thursday by the officials of the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA) and was accepted by the World Health Organization team.
WHO Nigeria Country office, in a tweet, on Thursday, said,
“Today, Nigeria’s complete documentation for wild polio virus free status was accepted by the Africa Regional Certification Commission for polio eradication (ARCC).
“It is a historic day for Nigeria, Africa and the Global Polio Programme!”.
READ ALSO: WHO Alerts The Public To New Strains Of Vaccine-Derived Polio In Southern Nigeria
It was also gathered by Daily Sun that a date will soon be announced for the official hand over of the certificate to the Federal Government.
According to the BBC, Nigeria is the last country in Africa to have witnessed a case of polio in Borno State, while the last case on the continent was in the Puntland region of Somalia, in 2014.
WHO’s Head of Polio Eradication, Michel Zaffran, voiced out a renewed call to vaccinate children against polio, stressing that vaccination would go a long way in ending polio in Nigeria. He said,
“To end polio, 95 percent of children, at least, must be vaccinated, no matter where they live.”
In 2018, a total of 33 cases of polio were confined to just two countries -Afghanistan and Pakistan.
More details later…