Moses Emorinken, Abuja
The Expert Review Committee (ERC) on Polio Eradication and Routine Immunization (RI) in Nigeria have hinted that the country is currently on track to being certified polio free having achieved the milestones of being three years wild polio-free.
The ERC which made this known at it’s 37th meeting in Abuja, however, cautioned that more needs to be done, to stop transmission of all types of polioviruses.
Nigeria is one of the remaining four countries in Africa (Central Africa Republic, South Sudan, Cameroun and Nigeria) that are yet to have documentation accepted for Polio certification.
According to the Coordinator of Polio Eradication Programme at World Health Organization (WHO), Dr. Pascal Mkanda Africa Regional Office, “the ERC acknowledges the work done by the programme, especially by the frontline workers who continually work in very challenging situations.
“If Nigeria gets it right, Africa could be certified Polio-free soon, having achieved the milestones of being three years’ wild polio-free”.
Dr. Mkanda used the ERC meeting to inform government and people of Nigeria that the African Regional Certification Commission (ARCC) for Polio Eradication certification will start conducting field verification and reviewing documentation of interruption of wild polio virus (WPV) from the 9th of December this year.
If the ARCC is satisfied with the national documentation and field verification, the WHO African Region could be certified to have eradicated WPV by mid-2020.
“It is important that the Nigerian government and partners avoid any complacency that could jeopardize Nigeria’s removal from the list of polio-endemic countries and certification of wild polio virus interruption for the African Region,” he said.
While the ERC concurs with the Nigeria Programme that the transmission of WPV1 is unlikely, experts are calling on government to galvanize partnerships aimed at reaching children in inaccessible areas, having identified that Nigeria’s polio resurgence in August 2016 was largely due to insecurity in the Northeast and waning political commitment.
The ERC recommended that the programme collaborate with the military and take advantage of the dry season to accelerate implementation of reaching children in hard-to-reach and inaccessible areas.
According to the information made available to our correspondent, their collective agreement is hinged on the firm belief that interrupting transmission of polio requires systematic processes, focused on reaching children in inaccessible areas, providing timely and adequate resources as well as strengthening RI.
The ERC noted rising issues of non-compliance in some communities in Northern Nigeria, especially in Sokoto state.
“Given the rising cases of non-compliance, ERC recommends that the programme should fast track the roll-out of key messages, including engaging journalists to create awareness and to address the circulating Vaccine Derived Polio Virus (cVDPV2) transmission in the context of zero WPV1 status in the country.
“The ERC further recommends that the programme continues the engagement of traditional, religious and community leaders to sustain gains on immunization”, Dr Mkanda said.
Speaking on the recommendations, the Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr Faisal Shuaib said, “The ERC is very important to us. It helps us to brainstorm and gives us the opportunity to do things many Nigerians never thought we could do.
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“In six-months-time, I am confident Nigeria will be removed from list of endemic countries, however, paralysis is paralysis, we need to ensure no child is ever paralyzed again, from any type of poliovirus.”
On 24 October 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared Wild Polio Virus type 3 (WPV3) eradicated globally. However, the last case of WPV1 was detected in Borno State, Nigeria in August 2016.
In collaboration with Government, intense surveillance and monitoring is ongoing across all 36 States of Nigeria and multiple supplemental immunization activities have been implemented nationwide to ensure every child is reached with the live-saving vaccines. No case of WPV has been reported in Nigeria for over three years.
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