The National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) says Nigeria is on its track to certification of being polio-free in the next 11 months. Areas still affected are the insecure areas in Borno State and some parts of the North-East.
Faisal Shuaib, the Executive Director of NPHCDA, disclosed this on Monday in Abuja during the 36th meeting of the Expert Review Committee on Polio and Routine Immunisation in Nigeria.
Dr Shuaib said Nigeria was on the verge of obtaining a polio eradication certificate, adding that the country had gone over 24 months with very strong surveillance without a case of wild Polio virus.
Dr Shuaib also said that the surveillance showed clearly that the government was not missing any wild polio in the country.
“If this positive trajectory continues, then it is very likely that certification institutions will review the progress that Nigeria has made and the lack of wild Polio virus transmission.
“Very likely, in the next few months, we will be certified a polio-free nation.
“It will be an unprecedented declaration in the life of Nigerians; a situation where no single child is paralysed due to the wild Polio virus,’’ he said.
He further reiterated the agency’s commitment to sustaining the population’s immunity against wild Polio virus and other vaccine-preventable diseases through strengthened routine immunisation programmes nationwide.
“One of the greatest challenges we still face is around mothers and caregivers bringing their kids to health facilities to access routine immunisation, even in the urban centres where places are accessible.
“We still have that challenge largely because folks have not realised the need for kids to take the full complement of routine immunization vaccines let alone in the hard-to-reach areas,’’ the Executive Director said.
