Delisting is a first step towards being declared free of the disease, which is spread by poor sanitation and contaminated water and can cause irreversible paralysis.
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The World Health Organisation has removed Nigeria from the list of polio endemic countries.
It has taken a lot of toll on our country in terms of human and material resources.
The de-listing of Nigeria means that there are just two endemic countries – Pakistan and Afghanistan – where transmission of the paralysing virus has never been interrupted.
The president said his government was also working on a revised National Health Policy that would have the achievement of Universal Health Coverage as its main ultimate goal.
Buhari said though the country had attained a milestone in the fight against polio by not recording any fresh case in the last 14 months, the government would not be complacent but would continue to invest in advocacy and campaigns against the disease.
“To achieve polio eradication, we must ensure that in the next two years no child is paralyzed due to polio. If this happens, said Rotary’s Carol Pandak, director of the PolioPlus program, we could have a polio-free world by 2019…” “Therefore, there is need for the efforts and investment to continue in order to sustain the gains; to ensure that at the state level, local government areas chairmen are fully involved in supporting polio campaigns; and to ensure timely disbursement of the state’s counterpart funds to guarantee good quality campaigns”, she said.
Also yesterday, the World Health Organization expressed concern about lack of financial commitment by a few state governments towards eradicating polio. “By the same token we thank development partners, particularly World Health Organization, UNICEF, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, USAID, US-CDC, Rotary worldwide, and a host of others who contributed financially and materially to the over-all efforts”, he said.
Currently, there have been only 41 cases of polio reported in the world in 2015, down from about 350,000 a year when the initiative launched in 1988.
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On the heels of historic success against polio in Nigeria and across the continent of Africa, Rotary gives an additional US$6.9 million boost to Nigeria to support immunization activities and surveillance spearheaded by the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.
