Nigeria still at risk of wild polio virus- Health agency warns

• Says, "Our work is not done."

Following the declaration of Nigeria as a polio-free country yesterday, the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) on has declared that Nigeria is still at risk of Polio epidemic.

This was stated by the agency’s Executive Director, Dr Faisal Shuaib, while speaking at a Zoom meeting held to celebrate the new status with some donor partners and stakeholders in Abuja. This is even as Nigeria waits to be formally certified polio-free in August. Shuaib assured Nigerians that all actions, particularly vaccination would be intensified to prevent a resurgence of the disease.

The African Regional Commission for Certification of Polio Eradication (ARCC), an organ of World Health Organisation (WHO), accepted Nigeria’s Wild Polio Virus Free Documentation after 30 years, on June 18, 2020.

READ ALSO, WHO declares Nigeria polio free

Shuaib stated that though the certification meant that Nigeria was free of the wild polio virus, this did not mean the work was over. According to him, the virus can still be imported from other endemic countries.

“As a matter of fact, the earlier the work starts, the better, because we have to maintain this [polio-free] status.This means we have to continue to give our kids the vaccination that they need against the virus, and all the other vaccine preventable diseases.

”We should not forget that we still have Afghanistan and Pakistan that are endemic for wild polio viruses, which means there is still a potential that these viruses may be imported into Nigeria.

“We live in a global village, you can see how COVID-19 spread so fast from China, by the same token, we could have wild polio virus spread from these two endemic countries,” he said.

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In addition, Shuaib said that though donor partners would withdraw funding, Nigeria has enough to sustain ongoing vaccination across the country, including hard-to-reach communities. According to him, the government was gradually taking responsibility for health.

“The country will continue to make sure that we put in place all of the strategies. We will continue to look everywhere to make sure that there is no child anywhere in Nigeria that will be paralysed from the wild polio virus.”

Shauib said that the National Assembly had committed enough resources to make sure that the agency has all of the vaccine needed in abundance, and the operations needed to convey the vaccines to remote areas. He also added that the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) had also been signed into law and would be released in a few weeks for funding to be partitioned for vaccines.

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“It’s an amazing opportunity that we have to make sure that we do not see a resurgence of the wild polio virus, an opportunity to make sure we protect all our kids from vaccine preventable diseases.

“With the support we are getting from state governors and traditional institutions, I think we are in a better place than we were a few years ago. There is a steady increase in coverage.

“In 2015, we had 40 per cent routine immunisation but, in 2018, it increased to 57 per cent, we are at 67 per cent now,” he said.
The executive secretary said that the certification would take place from Aug. 24 to Aug. 28, when a formal certificate would be awarded to the President. He said the skills garnered from the polio eradication programme were being deployed to eradicate the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in the country.

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Earlier, Dr Osagie Ehanire, the Minister of Health, said the declaration of Nigeria as polio free did not mean the work had finished as the country was being threatened by COVID-19. Ehanire said that all stakeholders involved in the eradication of polio would not rest until Coronavirus was defeated.

“We face a new enemy. There is the Coronavirus out there. After defeating the polio virus, there is no time for rest. NPHCDA will also be in the battle to ensure that Nigeria is kept safe from another virus threatening the world,” Ehanire said.

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