AFTER about two weeks without recording any case of Wild Polio Virus (WPV), Nigeria Thursday reported nine new cases of the crippling virus, bringing the number of cases for 2013 to 35.
According to the latest edition of Weekly Polio Update published by the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), this is despite a sub-national Immunisation Plus Days (IPDs) held from July 6 to 9, 2013 in northern and middle-band states.
However, Sokoto State is now on the verge of becoming one of the polio-free states in the country, Special Adviser to the Governor on Primary Healthcare, Ibrahim Jibril Sokoto, has said. While fielding questions from newsmen yesterday, Sokoto, said his optimism was based on the fact that though eight cases of WPV were reported in the state last year, no single case had been reported so far this year.
Sokoto attributed the progress made in the polio eradication fight to the concerted effort of all stakeholders, including the Sultanate Council, following the special measures evolved to achieve maximum coverage.
Those measures, he noted, included the use of medical doctors in house to house campaign, and taking polio victims around to testify to people that their condition was as a result of non-compliance, as well as encouraging Quranic teachers and influential individuals to talk to the people about the safety and efficacy of the Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV).
Meanwhile, a breakdown of the figures means that, of the 108 cases recorded globally in 2013, Nigeria ranks behind only Somalia, which recorded 41 cases earlier in the year after not reporting any case awhile, and besides Afghanistan and Pakistan, Kenya has seven cases.
According to the GPEI report, the most recent polio case was type one (WPV1), from Bauchi, and had the ouset of paralysis on June 18, 2013. The report read: "No new cases of circulating Vaccine Derived type two Polio Virus (cVDPV2) were reported in the past week. The most recent cVDPV2 case had onset of paralysis on November 24, 2012, from Kebbi.
"In the Horn of Africa, an outbreak of WPV1 is continuing, centred around Banadir, Somalia. The majority of cases associated with this outbreak developed paralysis before the start of the comprehensive emergency outbreak response activities.
In any case, "WPV3 continues to be at the lowest ever recorded levels. Globally, WPV3 has not been detected anywhere since November 2012 in Yobe State, Nigeria.
He noted that there has been a gradual and consistent improvement in the coverage of the OPV administration and that the last three rounds had been particularly impressive with 63 per cent of the local areas achieving over 79 per cent coverage.
The last round, he said, recorded the highest coverage of 1.59 million children out of the targeted population of 1.6 million children. On the Emergency Operation Centre (EOC), which started this year, Sokoto said that when polio finally disappears from the state, the centre, which was built by developmental partners, would focus on other childhood killer diseases.
The Guardian
This polio must just be eradicated as soon as possible because it's a big threat to a lot of Nigerians...And that is very risky!