Nigeria marks one year of being polio

It takes three years after the last case for a country to be declared fully polio-free (as opposed to just non-endemic), but at the current rate, we are looking at a polio-free world by 2020-46 years after the WHO first promoted a global immunisation programme.

All this brings closer the prospect that polio will soon become only the second human infectious disease after smallpox to be eradicated.

Nigeria launched an “all-out” effort, with focused attention, resources and activities on the remaining polio strongholds of the country, particularly the northern states.

“All such reported cases were investigated and discarded as non-polio acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) cases as the stool sample tested were negative for polio”, he said. Nigeria’s achievement in stopping polio will save hundreds of thousands of children from lifelong paralysis or death each year.

In 2005, less than 10 years after, over 20 million children from 0-5 years were vaccinated yearly against the polio virus.

The news that no new case had been recorded during the past twelve months has been welcomed in Nigeria but some health experts have been quick to warn against complacency. Equally important will be the continuation of high levels of vaccine coverage to keep the virus at bay.

Tactics such as engaging traditional and religious leaders as well as polio survivors in immunisation campaigns and using thousands of voluntary workers to build trust were also vital.

According to the executive director of the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency, Ado Muhammad, the main aim is total eradication of the disease. “It’s a time of great happiness, but we don’t want to celebrate prematurely”.

If this progress is sustained with no re-infection and surveillance remains strong, Nigeria and the rest of Africa will achieve polio eradication by 2017. “We are very conscious of the fact that there is a risk”, he said.

Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only countries left on the list.

The statement said Nigeria hopes to be certified polio-free by 2017 if it does not report any new cases, strengthens its surveillance system, improves routine immunization and maintains high quality campaigns.

Rotary worldwide took up the challenge in 1985 to eradicate polio in the world when over 350,000 cases of polio were in more than 125 countries.

“When you’re the last country in a region to still have polio, there’s a lot of pressure from the global community and from your neighbours”, she said.

It’s a major landmark for a country that has come a long way, with Nigeria having the highest number of cases per year worldwide in 1995.