Nigeria Will Soon Obtain Polio-free Status – Adewole
The Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, has said Nigeria is on course to obtaining a polio-free status, having spent the last 18 months without a reported case.
This, he said, was a result of aggressive efforts made by the government and other critical stakeholders to address the issue of low routine immunization coverage across the country.
The Minister made this known on Monday while addressing delegates to the meeting of the African Regional Certification Commission on Polio Eradication holding in Abuja.
Adewole also assured the delegates as well as donor agencies present that the federal government will continue to provide all the required human and material resources to finish the job of polio eradication in the country.
He said: “Permit me to add that our efforts are beginning to yield results considering the fact that we have spent 18 months without a case of poliovirus in Nigeria.
“The government of Nigeria will continue to provide all the required human and material resources to finish the job of polio eradication. “We therefore appeal to our donors to continue to support us, so that we can achieve our collective goal of a polio free Nigeria.”
It could be recalled that, in Nigeria, after almost two years without an outbreak, four polio cases were confirmed in 2016 from areas that were under Boko Haram Insurgency in Borno State.
