Jonathan’s Concerted Efforts Led To Nigeria’s Delisting From WHO’s List Of

Just three years later, the situation in the West African nation looks a whole lot brighter.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has celebrated Nigeria’s removal by the World Health Organization (WHO), from the list of polio-endemic countries, following the fact that there has been no single reported case of wild polio virus in the country since July 2014.

Yari also congratulated his colleagues and their deputies, acknowledging their vanguard role in ensuring that the polio efforts in their states got the desired political leverage and demonstrating leadership. The virus attacks the nervous system, resulting in pain in the limbs, vomiting, diarrhea, exhaustion, stiffness and- in extreme cases – paralysis. Polio is easily prevented through vaccination, but there is no cure. Government officials and religious leaders have worked together to ensure that vaccines are safe and administered with equal access, employing more than 200,000 volunteers that immunized over 45 million children under the age of 5.

According to W.H.O, polio eradication from the globe now relies upon clearing these two countries from the ailment.

Nigeria was the last country in Africa that had such a big problem with polio, and it will likely be another two years of no additional cases before the World Health Organization can declare the entire continent polio-free. But this goal means continuing vaccination drives and other community initiatives.

“We Nigerians are proud today,” Ado Muhammad, executive director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, said in a statement.

The agency warned polio remains endemic in Pakistan and Afghanistan and that as long as the disease exists anywhere “it’s a threat to children everywhere”. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had announced earlier this year that his government has a firm resolve to eradicate polio from Pakistan and also appreciated the cooperation of the Chief Ministers for conducting successful campaigns in their respective provinces. “With local innovation and national persistence, we have beaten polio”. The eradication of polio globally now depends primarily on stopping the disease in these countries.