1. Progress Toward Poliomyelitis Eradication — Nigeria, January 2018–May 2019
- Author
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Usman S. Adamu, W. Roodly Archer, Fiona Braka, Eunice Damisa, Anisur Siddique, Shazad Baig, Jeffrey Higgins, Gerald Etapelong Sume, Richard Banda, Charles Kipkoech Korir, Ndadilnasiya Waziri, Saheed Gidado, Philip Bammeke, Aboyowa Edukugo, Gatei wa Nganda, Joseph C. Forbi, Cara C. Burns, Hongmei Liu, Jaume Jorba, Adeyelu Asekun, Richard Franka, Steven G.F. Wassilak, and Omotayo Bolu
- Subjects
Program evaluation ,Pediatrics ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Health (social science) ,Adolescent ,Epidemiology ,Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis ,Nigeria ,Developing country ,Violence ,Serogroup ,Disease Outbreaks ,Herd immunity ,Health Information Management ,Poliomyelitis eradication ,medicine ,Humans ,Full Report ,Disease Eradication ,Child ,Socioeconomics ,Immunization Programs ,Transmission (medicine) ,business.industry ,Infant ,General Medicine ,medicine.disease ,Poliomyelitis ,Poliovirus Vaccines ,Vaccination ,Poliovirus ,Child, Preschool ,Population Surveillance ,business ,Program Evaluation - Abstract
Since the 1988 launch of global poliomyelitis eradication efforts, four of the six World Health Organization (WHO) regions have been certified polio-free. Nigeria is one of only three countries, along with Afghanistan and Pakistan, where transmission of wild poliovirus (WPV) has never been interrupted. During 2003-2013, northern Nigeria served as a reservoir for WPV reintroduction into 26 previously polio-free countries. In 2012, the Nigerian government launched a national polio eradication emergency plan to intensify efforts to interrupt WPV transmission. This report describes polio eradication activities and progress in Nigeria during January 2014-July 2015 and updates previous reports. No WPV cases have been reported to date in 2015, compared with a total of six cases reported during 2014. Onset of paralysis in the latest reported WPV type 1 (WPV1) case was July 24, 2014. Only one case of circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2) has been reported to date in 2015, compared with 20 cVDPV2 cases during the same period in 2014. Pending final laboratory testing of 218 remaining specimens of 16,617 specimens collected since January 2015, Nigeria could be removed from the WHO list of polio-endemic countries in September 2015. Major remaining challenges to the national polio eradication program include sustaining political support and program funding in the absence of active WPV transmission, maintaining high levels of population immunity in hard-to-reach areas, and accessing children in security-compromised areas of the northeastern states.
- Published
- 2019
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