Nigeria may be certified polio-free soon

Nigeria may be certified polio-free in 11months if it sustains the intense immunisation exercise nationwide, the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) has disclosed.

The Executive Director, Dr. Faisal Shuaib, told reporters yesterday during the quarterly meeting of Expert Review Committee (ERC) on polio eradication in Abuja that the World Health Organisation (WHO) would have given the nation a clean bill of health but for the case reported earlier in the year in the North.

He said: “Nigeria is very close to polio eradication. We have done over 25 months surveillance showing no wild polio virus cases in any of these areas. If this positive trajectory continues in the next 11 months, then we could achieve the feat.”