To put this milestone in context, back in 1988, polio was widespread around the world, paralyzing more than 1,000 children every day. Today, polio has been reduced by 99%, and Nigeria is just one of three countries left in the world—along with Afghanistan and Pakistan—where polio is endemic (in other words, where transmission of the polio virus has never been officially stopped). So the fact that Nigeria has now gone 365 days without a case is a huge deal.Just 3 years ago, Nigeria accounted for more than half of all global polio cases. In the years since, rapid progress against polio in Nigeria has come in large part because of the dedication of tens of thousands of health workers and strong government commitment to reaching every child with the polio vaccine. Emergency operations centers and health camps across the country are increasing their collaboration. More domestic funding for polio is helping to expand the program. Partners of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative and donors have stepped up their support. And stronger mobilization of community volunteers is helping ensure households and communities are engaged at the local level, even in the toughest-to-reach places.
Assuming that tests in the near future show no sign of the polio virus, then Nigeria will come off the list of countries listed by the World Health Organisation as polio-endemic. This is a significant achievement not only for Nigeria but for Africa as a whole, where there has not been a case of polio since August 11, 2014 (in Somalia).In 1988, polio was endemic in 125 countries and paralysed an estimated 1,000 children a day. In 2015, there have been 33 cases worldwide and 28 of those were in Pakistan, the latest being reported in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa on August 7. Peshawar remains a hot-spot with eight registrations in 2015.
It is undeniable that there has been a drop in the number of cases this year compared to last, when there were a catastrophic 296. It may seem that the battle is being won, but polio is highly persistent and notoriously difficult to eradicate. There are those who seek to keep polio amongst us rather than get rid of it. They are influenced by a dark obscurantism that says that polio vaccinators are ‘spies’ and that the vaccine itself is part of a global conspiracy to sterilise the entire Muslim population. Were this to be true, there would have been a marked drop in the birthrates right across the Muslim world — which, of course, has not happened. Encouraging as the drop in reported cases may be, there is no room for complacency. Vaccinators and those who protect them remain at grave risk. Nigeria has shown what is possible and it is now for Pakistan to follow suit.
pk.shafaqna.com
