Nigeria record one year without Polio

                        

Nigeria celebrate a year without Poliomyelitis, called Polio Virus,and is close to been a Polio Free country.
if the current position is maintained and immunization of Children across the country is sustained, the country will be certified polio free by The World Health Organisation by 2017.

This was contained in a statement jointly released yesterday by the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, NPHCDA, and United Nation’s Children Fund, UNICEF. The statement was signed by the Executive Director of NPHCDA, Dr Ado Mohammad.
Nigeria is the only country still battling polio in Africa.the North-East is the only area where there are fears of possible cases,health officials are working hard to get across to all Mothers in the region.

 “Nigeria is one step closer to achieving the goal of eradicating polio in 2017, as it has been one year since the last case of polio was reported in the country.

“The last case of polio in Nigeria was reported exactly a year today. The patient was a 16-monthold boy from Sumaila local council in Kano State.

“If all pending laboratory investigations return negative in the next few weeks, Nigeria will officially be taken off the list of polio-endemic countries.

“However, Nigeria will only be certified polio free by WHO in 2017, provided it maintains its zero case status, further strengthens its surveillance system, improves routine immunisation and maintains high quality campaigns.

“Consequently, achieving one year without polio is just one of the hurdles the country needs to surmount before being certified polio free in 2017.

“As early as 2012, Nigeria with 122 poliovirus cases, had reported the highest number of polio cases globally and the polio epicentre of the world.

“As the immediate past Minister of State for Health, Fidelis Nwankwo, said, “Our eyes are on the prize, but this is the most critical time in the programme.

Because the stakes are so high, we know that the eyes of the world are on us all to deliver and there is no room for complacency until we achieve eradication in 2017. We are far from there yet.

“We’re really excited by the historic progress that has been made here in Nigeria. However, we can’t get distracted by this progress.

We are now looking ahead to our next challenge which is to sustain the momentum on an emergency footing until 2017, with strong government oversight and continued levels of funding, so that Nigeria can hit the three-year mark with no cases, and finally eradicate this crippling disease,” it added.