On Friday, the World Health Organisation announced that Nigeria is polio-free confirming that the disease in no longer spreading in the country.
The last Polio case in Nigeria was diagnosed in August 2014. This leaves only Afghanistan and Pakistan as the only two countries in the world that have never gone a year without a new Polio case.
Carol Pandak, director of PolioPlus at Rotary International in a statement said “Today serves not only as confirmation of Nigeria’s progress, but as an affirmation that our end goal is within reach: global polio eradication. And while the end is in sight, polio remains a constant threat until every country is declared free from the debilitating disease.”
Margaret Chan, director-general of the WHO also said that “The outstanding commitment and efforts that got Nigeria off the endemic list must continue, to keep Africa polio-free. We must now support the efforts in Pakistan and Afghanistan so they soon join the polio-free world.”
As at 2012, half the Polio cases diagnosed in the world was in Nigeria. The Global Polio Eradication Initiative, a public-private partnership, has set of goal of eliminating all polio cases by 2018.
The partnership includes the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Rotary International, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, WHO, UNICEF and the United Nations Foundation.
The campaign, which has involved 20 million volunteers and $9 billion, has vaccinated over 2.5 billion children since 1988.
Sona Bari, WHO spokesman on polio also added that “The single-word answer to what changed in Nigeria is leadership.”
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