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New Date Set for Polio Eradication

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This Day (Lagos)

December 6, 2002
Posted to the web December 6, 2002

Lagos

The Task Force on Immunisation (TFI) and African Regional Inter-agency Co-ordinating Committee has confirmed 2003 as the new date for halting the transmission of wild polio virus worldwide.

Professor Francis Nkrumah, chairman of the task force, who confirmed the new date, explained that although the former global target date was 2002, it was clear that it was no longer feasible.

"It is already December and countries such as India, Pakistan and Nigeria still have a reservoir of the wild polio virus," he told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) at the end of the meeting of the two bodies in Abuja yesterday.

He said Nigeria had reported about 200 cases of wild polio virus in recent times.

Nkrumah said specific areas had been identified and that strategies had been intensified, including six immunisation exercises, national and supplementary, to be carried out in 2003 in Nigeria.

He said one of the greatest challenges facing the African continent in its disease control efforts was the ability to attain 80 per cent immunisation coverage against vaccine-preventable diseases and getting children immunised within the first one year of birth.

He said areas of concern were the western and central Africa, where the quality of surveillance was still not satisfactory compared with some countries in southern Africa that had attained high quality surveillance.

He said there was the need to pressure various governments to give priority attention to health programmes, particularly those relating to immunisation of children by adequately funding such programmes.

He explained that although the international donors had pledged increased assistance to the immunisation programmes, national governments still had a role to play in filling the budget gaps to be able to meet emerging challenges.

He said such challenges included the acquisition of new vaccines for hepatitis,influenza and yellow fever that would be introduced into routine immunisation.

At the end of the meeting, the task force recommended that the National Programme on Immunisation (NPI) and key partners such as WHO and UNICEF should strengthen their capacity and presence at state levels to ensure the interruption of poliovirus transmission in Nigeria by the end of 2003

Partners were also urged to continue financial support and ensure prompt disbursement of the funds to enhance further disbursements at lower levels.

The Federal Ministry of Health and partners were also enjoined to ensure coordinated advocacy, promotion and political support for polio eradication especially in endemic states, such as Kano, Kaduna, Katsina, Jigawa and Borno.

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