The historic certification of Nigeria and Africa as a polio- free country and continent, respectively, took place in a virtual event on 25 August 2020.
This is a glorious day for Nigeria and a fulfillment of His Excellency President Muhammadu Buhari’s promise when he said, ‘My government shall provide the necessary resources and commitment required to strengthen the health system, routine immunisation and ensure the country is certified polio- free’.
The Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire emphasised that it is the fulfillment of Mr. President’s promise and the resilient spirit of Nigerians, especially frontline health workers, that has given the country this pride of place in the comity of nations.
“It is indeed one of the greatest dividends of the present administration,” he added.
Polio eradication in Nigeria, according to Dr. Faisal Shuaib, the Executive Director and Chief Executive of NPHCDA, “is one classical example of human resilience, where in the face of adversity, in spite of numerous setbacks, over the course of almost three decades, Nigerians came together, relentlessly worked hard with our donors and development partners to eradicate polio.”
The NPHCDA boss added that the history of polio eradication in Nigeria is an evidence of how the health system could work collaboratively with community and religious leaders to eradicate any disease.
Nigerians may recall that the use of polio eradication strategy contributed immensely to the rapid control of the Ebola virus outbreak in 2014.
Dr. Shuaib, who coordinated the Ebola outbreak response, revealed that the lessons learnt from the success of polio eradication “is exactly what we’re using with the COVID-19 outbreak response.”
The achievement of polio eradication in Nigeria did not come easy as it has been a long and arduous journey, with great efforts and investment from government, donors, local and international partners such as Rotary International, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Aliko Dangote Foundation, WHO, Unicef, CDC, USAID, Gavi, EU, Global Affairs Canada, DFID, World Bank, JICA, KfW, the Nigeria Governors Forum, to mention a few.
The major problem the programme faced was insecurity, which “slowed our achieving polio eradication”, said Dr. Shuaib.
However, the polio programme was able to surmount this problem and others through the establishment of the Presidential Task Force on Polio Eradication, the Polio Emergency Operation Centers (EOC), the Northern Traditional Leaders Committee on Polio Eradication led by His Eminence, the Sultan of Sokoto, increasing demand for health services by ensuring the buy in of communities, the innovative use of technology including GIS, use of mobile phones for AVADAR – the Auto visual AFP Detection and Response application and the use VTS tracking of vaccinators “to ensure that vaccinators were actually going to where they were supposed to, to make sure that no child was left behind, even in the most difficult and hard to reach areas,” Dr. Shuaib stated.
The polio eradication efforts have had very positive impact on the nation’s health system, as evidenced by the recent SMART survey which shows 71% routine immunisation coverage from 48% in the last three years. “This is as a result of declaring an emergency just two and a half years ago and using the same polio experience.”
The Africa Regional Certification Commission (ARCC) for Polio Eradication, an independent body of experts charged with reviewing data and determining the wild polio-free status of all 47 countries in Africa, commenced the certification process in August 2019, following the country’s achievement of three years without any case of the wild polio virus.
The ARCC visited Nigeria in December 2019 and March 2020 for the mandatory field verification process necessary to declare the country wild polio-free.
It was upon completion of the visit that the body accepted the country’s complete documentation claiming wild polio virus free status on 18 June, 2020, thereby paving the way for the certification.
Dr. Shuaib ascribed the achievement to the leadership provided by Mr. President, His Excellency, Muhammadu Buhari, the Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, traditional and religious leaders, local and international partners, all health workers and the Nigerian populace.
He dedicated the certification to the memory of all those who lost their lives in the cause of polio eradication, describing them as Polio Heroes.
Mohammad Ohitoto is the Head, Public Relations Unit NPHCDA
