Adewole: Nigeria Almost Polio-free, Commends WHO’s Efforts on Disease Control 

By Senator Iroegbu in Abuja

The Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, has declared that Nigeria would officially be pronounced polio-free soon.

This is coming as he commended the tremendous efforts of the World Health Organisation (WHO) that have helped the country especially in humanitarian activities and containing the spread of diseases not only in the North-east region but in the entire country.

Adewole said the assistance of the global body to Nigeria in curtailing the polio and other prevalent diseases, especially among children, could not be over-emphasised.

Addressing a joint press conference in Abuja at the weekend with the WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, he said WHO played prominent role in helping Nigeria to achieve its present polio-free status.

The minister also assured Nigerians that the country would soon be declared polio-free as there has been no sighting of a new case since the last one that was reported at the north-east part of the county in 2016.

He said the WHO visit led by Moeti is not only expected to strengthen support of the body to Nigeria in her fight against humanitarian emergencies but also to advocate the effective implementation of the ‘Transformation Agenda’ of the Regional Director.

“Though the aim of her visit is the North-east, the organisation however will be working across the country. She is also here to assess our policies on Universal Health Care and how far we have been in achieving this,” he said.

Also speaking, the regional director said WHO was ready to partner the country to rebuild the health systems especially in the North-east devastated by the Boko Haram insurgency.

She reaffirmed the WHO’s commitment to partner Nigeria on matters of mutual interest regarding international health development in Africa and Nigeria in particular, especially on the current response to polio eradication and monkey pox outbreak.

Moeti, who was on a two-day official visit to Nigeria to assess the organisation’s humanitarian activities in the North-east had earlier in the day flagged off an integrated polio and malaria campaign in Borno State commended the Nigerian government for early alert of the WHO on cholera and suspected monkey pox cases in the country.

She said WHO has raised 113 mobile health teams to complement capacity of the Borno State Government fight against child-killer diseases that claimed 58 lives from the outbreak of cholera last August.

The killer diseases,  she said, included cholera, polio, malaria, measles, pneumonia, typhoid and whopping cough.

She said the deployment of mobile health teams would enable the affected population have direct access to health care delivery services, before the diseases hit various communities.

She said the United Nations health agency is to support Nigeria with measles campaigns and enlightenment to prevent next year’s outbreak in the North.