FG spent N9.8bn to eradicate polio in the last three years

....Nigeria nears polio-free status

As the World Health Organization is set to declare Nigeria polio-free, the Federal Government has revealed that it spent N9.8 billion to ensure that the wild polio virus outbreak in 2016 was rapidly contained.

The WHO noted that if Nigeria does not report a wild polio case in the next two months, the country will reach three years without a polio case and could be certified polio-free.

The Executive Director, National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NAPHCDA), Faisal Shuaib in a statement by the Agency’s spokesperson, Mohammed Ohitoto stated that no wild polio virus has been identified anywhere in Nigeria in almost three years. He informed that the process towards Nigeria being certified polio free will soon commence.

Shuaib explained that as part of

efforts to rapidly improve routine immunization coverage, the National and State Emergency Routine Immunization Coordination Centres already recorded significant achievements in the last 18 months.

According to him, the quality of Routine Immunization programme through quarterly conduct of Programme Asessment for Performance Management and Action, Lot Quality Assurance Sampling (PAPA-LQAS) improved from only 3 percent of lots accepted in the fourth quarter of 2017 to 46 percent of Lots accepted in second quarter of 2019.

According to the statement, the Rotary International awarded Shuaib for “excellence in service to humanity for his work on polio eradication and the fight against Ebola outbreak in 2014.”

A one-time governor of Rotary District 210 covering West Africa, Julius Adeluyi, noted that the fight against polio is one of the greatest humanitarian services carried out so far.