Nigeria records 83 poliovirus type 2 cases 

WHO blames insecurity, inadequate health care

About 83 cases of circulating Variant Poliovirus Type 2 (cVPVD2) have been recorded in the country this year. Consequently, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has called on the Federal Government to increase immunisation coverage and intensify efforts to stop the transmission, particularly in the Axis of Intractable Transmission (AIT) states of Katsina, Kano, Zamfara, Sokoto and Kebbi.

UNICEF’s Chief of Health, Dr Eduardo Celades, who made the call in an interview with The Guardian, yesterday, in Abuja, said stopping cVPVD2 transmission in the AIT, would end polio outbreaks in about 20 countries.

Eduardo noted that a big concern was that Nigeria’s routine immunisation was still very low, adding that there were places, like Sokoto, where only 11 per cent of the children under one were vaccinated against Penta-3, stressing that it was one of the lowest in the world.

He said: “It is difficult to stop polio transmission if you still have such a low coverage of vaccination. Some so many children are not vaccinated; so strengthening routine immunisation in primary health care is something that we need to do if we want to end polio.”

In his speech, a professor of virology, Prof Oyewole Tomori, told The Guardian that Nigeria records circulating vaccines-derived poliovirus due to low immunisation coverage.

Tomori stated that the major challenge facing immunisation in the country was people’s attitude towards vaccines generally, adding that there were a lot of anti-vaccination campaigns going around.

This is as the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has said about 22,000 children in Bauchi State have not received routine immunisation. It noted that the outbreak of cVDPV had persisted, with 73 cases nationally documented in Bauchi in 2024.

UNICEF’s Chief of Bauchi Field Office, Dr Nuzhat Rafique said this during an awareness road walk in Bauchi, yesterday to commemorate this year’s World Polio Day. According to her, child deaths and physical disabilities that polio causes could be banished from the state, Nigeria and the world if stakeholders continue to commit to stopping polio outbreaks.

MEANWHILE, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said insecurity and limited access to healthcare are fuelling the spread of polio variants in Africa. In her message to mark World Polio Day on October 24, WHO Regional Director for Africa, Matshidiso Moeti, however, said the region had reached significant milestones, including the notable success of Madagascar, which had gone a full year without detecting Circulating Variant Poliovirus Type 1.

“In Southern Africa, we marked the closure of the imported wild poliovirus type 1 outbreak that was declared in 2022,” she said.

“The swift and coordinated efforts of Malawi, Mozambique, and neighbouring countries, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, also inspire optimism.

“These achievements highlight the strength of joint action, the resilience of our communities, and the unwavering dedication of frontline health workers.”
She underscored the need for strong political commitment in the fight against polio.