The
World Health Organization (WHO) is set to formally pronounce the
delisting of Nigeria as a polio endemic country before President
Muhammadu Buhari.
The event, which is
slated for the State House, Abuja, on October 26 will see the country
hosting the Director-General of WHO, Dr. Margaret Chan, who will be
represented by WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr. Matshidiso R.
Moeti.
According to the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Health, Mr. Linus Awute, “The
Regional Director will meet with Mr. President to formally announce to
the Government of Nigeria the WHO’s decision to remove Nigeria from the
list of Polio endemic countries, as a recognition of the immediate
achievement of Nigeria in stopping the transmission of the Wild Polio
Virus for a period of fourteen months, which has exceeded WHO’s target
for interruption”.
The Regional Director,
Dr. Moeti, is also expected to emphasize to policy makers and major
stakeholders, that despite tremendous progress in Nigeria, complacency
is not a luxury at the disposal of the Government and partners until the
gains of this great feat is sustained for two years to be able to
achieve the certification of Nigeria as a Polio-free Nation by 2017.
In order to boost
population immunity of children between the ages of zero to five years,
as well as achieve eradication status in 2017, Nigeria will continue to
vaccinate children, irrespective of their previous immunization status.
The President, Muhammadu
Buhari, during his interface with the High Level Advocacy Team on
Poliomyelitis, headed by the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of
Health, emphasized that his administration “Would provide the necessary
oversight over the Programme to ensure no child ever gets paralyzed
again by Wild Polio Virus”.
He therefore directed
the Federal Ministry of Health and its Agency to come up with programme
elements that would sustain the gains and maintain the momentum towards
achieving a final certification.
No comments:
Post a Comment