The World Health Organization (WHO) praised Nigeria for achieving and upholding a wild poliovirus (WPV)-free status. The global health regulatory organisation also commended Nigeria for its success in attaining an 80% decrease in the re-emerging circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2).
WHO also praised Dr. Faisal Shuaib, Executive Director and CEO of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), for his work in putting the Auto-visual Acute Flaccid Paralysis Detection and Reporting (AVADAR) system into place, which helped communities identify and report cases of Acute Flaccid Paralysis (AFP).
To strengthen routine immunisation and other PHC services, it advised the government to prioritise and spend more on the country’s primary health care (PHC) systems.
During the third anniversary of eradicating the wild poliovirus in Nigeria, the WHO’s country representative, Dr. Walter Mulombo, announced this. He said: “Nigeria became the template for the Global Polio Programme for innovations, best practices, and demonstration of leadership and ownership at national and sub-national levels.
“I must commend the government and Nigerians for the 80 percent reduction in the burden of cVPDV2 cases among AFP cases.
The Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, said: “The past three years have been a mixed bag of events for the country as the impact of COVID-19 affected our health system. Variants of the Polio Viruses (cVPV2), remnants in the environment due to suboptimal environmental sanitation, can be virulent and affect children who have not been enrolled in the routine immunisation system.
“However, we have directed and guided the NPHCDA to mount the needed response to deal with these viruses within an integrated framework to address other public health challenges including the ongoing COVID-19 vaccination in the country.”