Africa Set to Banish Polio

16 September 2019

Wednesday last week marked three years since Nigeria's last documented case of polio, which was also the last case recorded in Africa. This means the African continent is set to be certified free of the virus by the World Health Organization, WHO. "This is a dramatic change from 2012 when the country accounted for more than half of all polio cases worldwide, with 223 victims," WHO said. Nigeria is the last country in Africa to have witnessed a case of polio in Borno State. Outside of Nigeria, the last case on the African continent was in Somalia's Puntland region in 2014.

According to WHO, polio incidence globally been reduced by 99 percent since 1988 when more than 350,000 children were paralyzed annually in 125 countries. If Nigeria is ultimately declared polio-free, the virus shall remain in only two countries of the world, Afghanistan and Pakistan. In 2018, there were 33 polio cases confined to just these two countries.

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