LAGOS – A Virologist, Prof. Oyewale Tomori, on Friday urged the Federal Government and stakeholders to sustain the measures to prevent a resurgence of Wild Polio Virus in the country.[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”10″]
Tomori, who is also the President, Nigerian Academy of Science, made the appeal in an interview with [pro_ad_display_adzone id=”10″]the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.
He said that upholding such measures would put the country in top gear for the complete eradication of the virus.
According to him, the innovative strategies employed have resulted in the progress recorded so far. [pro_ad_display_adzone id=”10″]
Tomori said: “Between January and September 2012, Nigeria reported 101 cases of polio, 49 cases in
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2013 and six cases in two states in 2014.
“Behind this progress is improved national coverage of three doses of trivalent Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV) which increased from 73 per cent in 2012 to 84 per cent between January and September 2013.
“Also, the introduction of the National Polio Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) at national and state levels has allowed for real-time assessment, evaluation and response to field situations”.
The virologist said that polio programmes should not be abandoned or neglected as a result of the forthcoming general elections.
He called for the engagement of the media, civil society organisations, parents and academics to call governments’ attention to health in general and polio eradication in particular.
According to him, we must not allow the 2015 elections to set Nigeria back in the race to eradicate polio.
“We are this close, but not close enough. We said we have only six cases, we are aiming at zero cases.
“ Even if we have reported only one case in 2014, we will still be `this close’ but not there.
“As we approach elections, let us not make the same mistakes we made in 2007 and 2011when we all went electioneering, and abandoned our duties, let our guards down and polio sneaked in and resurged.
“We are so close to victory in 2010, Nigeria recorded only 48 cases of polio, but because we did not press victory to the end, we recorded 95 cases in 2011 and 130 cases in 2012.
“We suffered and continue to suffer as one of the only three nations that have never stopped the transmission of polio.
“It is important for all stakeholders to ensure that the polio eradication programme is not neglected,“ Tomori said.
NAN reports that polio has not been eliminated in three countries: Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan.
Dr Halliru Alhassan, the Minister of State and Supervising Minister of Health, had on Jan. 1, said that Nigeria would be certified polio-free in January.
According to him, no case of polio has been recorded in the country in the last six months.
“This qualifies the country to be declared polio-free in line with global requirements,” Alhassan said. (NAN)
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