Nigeria yesterday joined the rest of the world to mark this year's World Polio Day.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), poliomyelitis (polio) is a highly infectious viral disease that largely affects children under five years of age.
It said the virus is transmitted by person-to-person spread mainly through the faecal-oral route or, less frequently, by a common vehicle (such as contaminated water or food) and multiplies in the intestine, from where it can invade the nervous system and cause paralysis.
Though Nigeria was certified free of Wild Polio Virus (WPV) three years ago, stakeholders in the health sector have harped on the need for the country to stay vigilant and keep up vaccination rates to avert a resurgence of the disease and also address the continued threat of vaccine-derived polio virus cases.
They say parents should continue to harness the immunisation drive in the country to get their children vaccinated and protected against the virus.
Dr Faisal Shuaib, Executive Director of the NPHCDA, says apart from the fact that "we are still contending with the challenge of cVPV2, the re-emergence of WPV in some African countries shows that all countries are vulnerable until the virus is totally eradicated worldwide."
"This reinforces the saying that as long as polio is detected anywhere in the world, every child, everywhere is at risk," he said.
NPHCDA boss said the theme for this year's World Polio Day, 'A healthier future for mothers and children' is aimed at motivating and raising awareness among parents and caregivers to ensure their children are fully vaccinated against all forms of vaccine-preventable diseases.
The Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, said the re-emerging variants of the Polio Viruses (cVPV2) are remnants in the environment as a result of suboptimal environmental sanitation and can potentially be virulent and affect children who have not been enrolled in the routine immunization system.
This therefore underscores the need for vaccination against polio.
UNICEF says as long as polio exists anywhere, it's a threat to children everywhere.
It says while there's no cure for polio , it could be prevented with the life-saving polio vaccine.
UNICEF and partners have vaccinated over 350 million children every year against polio, with the support of health workers, governments and donors.
Eduardo Celades, UNICEF Chief of Health, had during the third anniversary commemoration of Nigeria's WPV free status in August, said the fund is proud to have joined efforts by providing the life-saving vaccines, generating demand for vaccine, partnering with traditional leaders and religious leaders as well as key stakeholders to create a positive environment for vaccination.
He said that also ensured that leaders and teams were available to resolve vaccine hesitancy, and engaging almost 20,000 community members to encourage millions of Nigerian mothers to take their children to the health facilities for completion of their routine immunization.
He said, "That is how we will continue to sustain this remarkable polio achievement, through strengthening routine immunisation and overall health system.
"Complacency is not an option, as polio could come back if we let our guards down, looking at what happened in Malawi and Mozambique, even in the UK and USA. Polio anywhere is polio everywhere.
"We might have won the battle against wild polio, but the war against all types of polio is not yet over. A circulating variant of poliovirus is still affecting too many children in Nigeria. But again, thanks to our joint efforts, our perseverance, and strong conviction that the world without all forms of polio is possible, we have managed to control the situation."
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He said there is still a lot of work ahead of us, adding, "While we have reduced the number of zero-dose children, the routine immunization rate remains slow."
He said it is time for Nigeria to further strengthen immunization.
"From its success in polio eradication, Nigeria learned to be persistent, vigilant, and committed. Nigeria has also established dedicated and trained frontline workers and community mobilizers, a strong network of religious and traditional leaders and community members to support the vaccination programme.
"All these combined efforts serve to strengthen our primary health care system. With everyone's support in vaccinating all eligible children, Nigeria can ensure that child survival improves. With the same dedication and energy that sustained Nigeria WPV free, we can protect our children from preventable childhood-killer diseases.
"Children need the protection provided by vaccines now, more than ever. And we have shown that together we can make it happen," he added.
