Germany Pledges More Support for Nigeria’s Effort in Polio Eradication

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

The German government has said that it will continue to support Nigeria’s efforts in the eradication of polio.

It also commended Nigeria for achieving a milestone of reaching three years without any reported case of wild poliovirus.

Speaking during their visit to a Family Health Clinic in Garki, Abuja, recently to observe a vaccination session and surveillance documentation, a member of German parliament and a member of the budget committee acknowledged the achievements of NPHCDA, WHO, and UNICEF in polio eradication and the positive impact they have made in the journey.

He said: “We are happy to be on ground to see how our money is being spent, despite a lot of bad stories that have been circulating about Nigeria, it is a job well done.

“It is very heartwarming to come and see these positive achievements and we look forward to celebrating a certified Polio free Nigeria with you all in June 2020.”

German Ambassador to Nigeria, Mrs. Brigitt Ory led other members of the German Parliament, during the visit, to the health facility.

In his remark, the Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr. Faisal Shuaib, traced the historical financial partnership with Germany on polio eradication to over 10 years ago.

Shuaib said Nigeria has over the years, received millions of Euros from Germany as grants for polio eradication initiative.

Represented by the Incident Manager of the National Polio Emergency Operations Center, Dr Usman Adamu, he said, “These funds, which came in at different times were used to purchase vaccines and finance operations of special immunisation campaigns.

“Just recently, in December 2019, the German government released 26.8 Million Euros (€ 26,800,000) channeled through the World Health Organisation and UNICEF to the Nigerian government to support polio operations and procure vaccines.”

In his remarks, the Officer-in-Charge, WHO, Dr. Clement Peter stated, “Since the detection of the wild poliovirus three years ago, Nigeria with support from Germany and other partners, implemented various innovations during outbreak response (OBR) and scheduled polio campaigns to halt transmission of the virus.

“Surveillance has been strengthened and technological innovations such as e-Surveillance and use of audio visual techniques for AFP detection and expansion of community informant network helped to further increase sensitivity of surveillance to detect any suspect cases.

“In spite of this progress, the current success in Nigeria is still very fragile as insecurity, which hinders access to some children, and suboptimal routine immunisation coverage across several states, pose a threat to sustaining recent gains.

“Forty seven per cent of children nationally have not received their third dose of polio vaccine, whilst 19 per cent of children in Nigeria have not received any vaccination at all.”

Shuaibu urged GPEI partners and donors such as Germany to sustain their technical and financial support to the programme until the job is done (global certification of WPV1-free status, certification of vaccine-derived polio virus (VDPV) free status).

Germany has been a long term supporter of the Polio Eradication Program in Nigeria, providing tremendous and longstanding financial support over the years with grants to fill critical funding gaps for vaccines and campaign operations across the country.