Nigeria Targets Polio Certification By 2020 —NEC Reveals

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  • Continuous advocacy is the key to addressing negative beliefs about polio vaccination
  • Despite the progress, there is still work to be done to sustain the current polio gains and stop the transmission of the circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus.

National Economic Council (NEC) says Nigeria is making conscious efforts toward achieving polio certification by the year 2020.

The information was conveyed by Gov. Willie Obiano of Anambra, while briefing State House correspondents after the NEC meeting presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Tuesday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

He said that the major highlights were updates on disease control efforts by the Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire. He added that “Nigeria is steadily progressing toward polio certification by June 2020; despite the progress, there is still work to be done to sustain the current polio gains and stop the transmission of the circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus.

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Continuous advocacy, the key to addressing negative beliefs about polio vaccination –Medical Practitioner “In the past two years, there were improvements in immunization coverage and Routine Immunisation (RI) programme performance.

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“Despite the country’s performance in RI and polio performance, other core Primary Healthcare Centre(PHC) indices have been stagnated and we are on track to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.

“The current aspiration of government is to reach 100 million Nigerians through at least 10,000 revitalized primary healthcare centers through a phased approach over a period of 10 years.

“The expectation of state governments is to revitalize one PHC ward with the full complement of required infrastructure—basics services, hospital personnel, and key support systems.

“However, so far, no state in Nigeria has been able to achieve fully activated PHCs in accordance with set criteria,’’

Rotary International, stakeholders plan final push towards Nigeria’s polio-free status Obiano said that the minister appealed for timely release of states and local governments’ counterpart funding for polio, yellow fever, measles, meningitis campaigns and establishment of a task force on immunization.

He added that the minister also appealed that the taskforce is chaired by deputy governors in states. According to Obiano, Ehanire also called for increased political oversight by executive governors and chairmen of local governments in line with Abuja’s commitment indicators.

“Executive governors should also call for quarterly meetings of local government chairmen and states health team to review progress in achieving sustainable primary healthcare and universal healthcare coverage, which are central to improving human capital development,’’ he said.

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