WHO boss meets Buhari over Nigeria’s polio-free status

• No new case 15 months on
• Fresh immunization campaign holds Dec 5 to 7

THE Director General of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Dr. Margaret Chan, yesterday arrived Nigeria to officially communicate the country’s polio-free status to President Muhammadu Buhari and discuss plans towards eradication.

This is the first time the WHO boss is visiting Nigeria since the country was delisted from the list of polio endemic nations last month. The WHO, on September 25, 2015, announced that polio is no longer endemic in Nigeria. “This is the first time that Nigeria has interrupted transmission of wild poliovirus, bringing the country and the African region closer than ever to being certified polio-free.”

Nigeria has remained polio-free 15 months after the last case, and is planning a nationwide immunization campaign in December 2015 and January 2016. Also, the Independent Monitoring Board has met in London to assess progress towards polio eradication and to make recommendations for the coming months. The report is expected to be published in the next few weeks.

Director General of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr. Ali Gana Muhammad, in an interview with The Guardian yesterday, said: “We just received the DG of the WHO, Dr. Margaret Chan, who arrived Abuja in company of the Regional Director for Africa, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti. Chan is to meet President Buhari tomorrow morning to officially communicate Nigeria’s delisting from polio endemic nations. Chan is also here to congratulate the people of Nigeria, especially the health workers who risk their lives, on the tremendous success made thus far.

I am excited because this is coming at a time we are making huge progress in the polio eradication efforts. We are committed to eradicating polio, and Nigeria, and indeed the whole of Africa, are near that goal.”

Chan had in a statement released on the World Polio Day at the weekend, titled “We Say Thank You,” said: “On 24 October, people around the world are voicing their gratitude for the incredible efforts of countless people to eradicate polio. Health workers are some of the many thousands of people who deserve our thanks today, working across the world to reach even the most hard to access children with polio vaccines.

The legacy of polio eradication will make a tangible difference in the lives of each of us- whether by protecting your family from paralysis, or enabling your children to be born into a world entirely free from the threat of the virus.
“World Polio Day on 24 October is an opportunity to reflect on how far we have come in the last year and to pay tribute to the countless healthcare workers, volunteers, families, traditional and religious leaders, governments, donors, civil society organizations and partners who work tirelessly to protect children against polio.”

According to the latest edition of the Weekly Polio Update published yesterday by the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), “no new wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases were reported in the past week. No cases have been reported in 2015. Nigeria’s total WPV1 case count for 2014 remains six. The most recent case had onset of paralysis on July 24, 2014 in Sumaila Local Government Area (LGA), southern Kano state.”

The GPEI report reads: “No new cases of type 2 circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus (cVDPV2) were reported in the past week. The most recent case had onset of paralysis in Kwali Local Government Area (LGA), Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja, with onset of paralysis on 16 May; this is the only cVDPV2 case reported in Nigeria in 2015.

In September Nigeria was removed from the list of polio-endemic countries following all samples in the polio laboratory being tested negative for wild poliovirus for a whole year following the most recent case on July 24, 2014. This is the first time that Nigeria has