Our Polio Job Not Yet Done, Says Buhari

Health workers tries to board a vehicle taking them to designated centres to immunize children in Lagos on December 17, 2012 ©Pius Utomi Ekpei (AFP)

As Nigeria marks two straight years without any outbreak of the wild polio virus, President Muhammadu Buhari has promised that the Federal Government and its partners would not rest on their oars but continue to provide the needed oversight and resources to achieve total polio eradication by 2017.

The Guardian Nigeria report continues:

Also, the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nation’s Children Fund (UNICEF) and other partners leading the effort to eradicate polio under the platform of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) are urging Nigeria to be on the alert for any sign of the virus through heightened surveillance especially in the border areas.

After years of devastation, Nigeria was on July 2015 removed from the list of polio-endemic countries by WHO, leaving only Afghanistan and Pakistan in list that had 125 in 1988.

In a joint statement between the Nigerian government and its partners issued in Abuja, Buhari said: “This is a historic moment that has brought Africa and the world the closest it has ever been to eradicating this devastating disease. But our job is not yet done. We must protect the gains we have made and stay on course to tackle the challenges that remain in eliminating polio for good.”

Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Folorunso Adewole, said government is building resilience by “getting people out of their comfort zones to further enhance the quality of polio campaigns, reach children in difficult areas and continue to improve routine immunization.”

Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr. Ado Muhammad, said Nigeria was increasing environmental surveillance sites and community informants across the country.

Acting WHO Representative for Nigeria, Dr. Rex Mapazanje, noted that though the national laboratories have been vigilant in monitoring polio cases, the country must continue to be at alert for any sign of the virus through heightened surveillance, particularly in the vulnerable populations including insurgency-hit areas of North-East and the adjoining areas of Cameroon, Chad and Niger.

Country Representative of UNICEF, Jean Gough, warned: “Achieving a polio-free Africa will bring us closer than ever to a polio-free world, but that success should not be taken for granted. We must continue to work together with all partners in particular with the traditional institutions at all levels to ensure we reach every child so we can relegate this paralysing disease to history forever.”

Executive Director, National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr. Ado Muhammad, said investments to end polio across African and around the world are developing a lasting infrastructure and knowledge base that will help to improve the delivery of basic healthcare services and other life-saving vaccines, especially to people living in poor and hard to reach areas.

“All partners stressed the need for continued commitment from governments, civil society and donors to finish the job – for Nigeria, for Africa and for children everywhere.”
European Union signed an agreement with the Federal Government to ensure sustainable quality Routine Immunization Services against wild polio virus. The Executive Secretary Gombe State Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr. Ahmed Gana disclosed this while speaking during the official launching of the programme at the weekend said the state has been polio- free since 2013 which led to the attraction of development partners to the state, like Bill Gate Foundation which has given support of about US$15 million for the establishment of village Health Workers Programmer in the state.

“The state has also been given a grant of US$1.5 million dollar by the World Bank through the Federal Ministry of Heath for the improvement of health care service particularly the Primary health care services in the state,” Dr Gana added that.

He stressed that EU-Sign Project has awarded contract for construction of Nafada Local Council Primary health care cold store and renovation of others.Also speaking the EU-Sign project Gombe state Technical Assistant Mr. Audu Gambo Kariya said the project is aimed at strengthening the health system to increase access to and utilization of immunization services within an integrated primary health care service delivery system.

Nigeria Hails Major Step Towards Polio-Free Africa

AFP reports that Nigeria on Sunday celebrated two years without a new case of polio, in a major stride towards Africa being declared free of the devastating disease.

If no new case is reported by July 2017, Nigeria will be certified free of the virus, which mainly affects children under five and can leave its victims crippled or dead.

As recently as 2012, Nigeria seemed to be losing the battle against polio, recording more than half of all global cases.

But these days the disease is only endemic in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Nigeria has not seen a case of "wild" polio -- contracted person-to-person or through contaminated water -- since July 24, 2014, when a child was left paralyzed in the impoverished northern state of Kano.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday hailed the progress towards wiping out polio, but said more needed to be done keep up the momentum.

"The next major milestone for us as a country is the certification of polio-free status in 2017 by the World Health Organization," he said in a statement.

A sporadic case occurred in August 2014 in Somalia but Nigeria is the last African country where polio was endemic.

"As long as a single child remains infected, children in all countries are at risk of contracting polio," the WHO says on its website.

"Failure to eradicate polio from these last remaining strongholds could result in as many as 200 000 new cases every year, within 10 years, all over the world."

- Suspicion over vaccines -

Nigeria had struggled to contain the virus after some northern states imposed a ban on vaccinations in 2003.

Immunization teams were attacked and even killed as rumours spread about vaccine safety -- a phenomenon also seen in Pakistan, where suspicions grew after the CIA ran a fake vaccine drive to help track down Al-Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden in 2011.

In northern Nigeria, immunization bans followed allegations by some state governors and religious leaders that vaccines were contaminated by Western powers to spread sterility and HIV among Muslims.

Independent tests ordered by the government in 2004 declared that the vaccines were safe, but hostility to vaccination drives has remained in some areas.

Boko Haram's bloody six-year Islamist insurgency has also created major security issues for efforts to vaccinate children in the north.

Health Minister Isaac Adewole said the government would get "people out of their comfort zones to further enhance the quality of polio campaigns, reach children in difficult areas and continue to improve routine immunization."

Buhari meanwhile pledged to work with international partners "to ensure that this disease is wiped off the face of the earth for good".

Nigeria has budgeted 12.6 billion naira (US$42.5 million, €38.8 million) in 2016 for vaccinations and other programmes to combat childhood diseases such as polio, yellow fever and measles, he added.

Modibo Kassogue, immunization manager in Nigeria for UNICEF, told AFP that funding was crucial.

"They must also improve monitoring, increase levels of routine immunization and strengthen the overall health system to prevent the return of polio," he said.

And he said plenty needed to be done in Nigeria to stop children dying of other diseases.

Treatable infectious diseases such as malaria, pneumonia, diarrhoea, measles and HIV/AIDS account for more than 70 per cent of the estimated one million under-five deaths in Nigeria every year, according to UNICEF.

"In Nigeria, one child out of every 13 born dies before reaching age one, and one in every eight does not survive till their fifth birthday," Kassogue said.