Abuja, 11 September 2015 - There’s starting to be a breath of fresh air for parents in Africa, and around the world, as Nigeria approaches being removed from the notorious polio-endemic list. From more than 1122 cases in 2006 to zero today, Nigeria has made tremendous progress in polio eradication with no children being paralyzed in more than one year.

In Nigeria, some children continued to miss the opportunity to be fully vaccinated against this life-threatening disease, this was the case for Isa, a 30 month old and the last confirmed case of polio, from Sumaila LGA of Kano state.

“Since Isa contracted polio, it has not been easy managing him. He sometimes falls over when he walks because of the flaccidity of his leg and arm. I am not sure I know what he will become in future but I am hopeful that Isa will grow up and go to school like other children”, said Binta Kanduwa, Isa’s mother.

A menacing crippling disease

Children like Isa missed being vaccinated despite availability of the highly-effective oral polio vaccine (OPV), which has been widely acclaimed as one of public health triumphs in protecting the lives of children in Africa and around the world.

Text Box: Last polio case, Isa and his mother “Polio is a crippling disease and has caused far too many children to suffer irreversible and permanent disability,” says Dr Rui Gama Vaz, WHO Representative in Nigeria.

“Despite tremendous progress in Nigeria, we cannot become complacent and WHO and partners will continue to deploy extensive human and financial resources to ensure no child suffers the devastating effects of polio,” adds Dr Vaz.

In Nigeria, WHO’s work with religious leaders has been one of the key success indicators in the fight against polio. World renowned islamic scholar and medical doctor Sheikh Ahmad Gumi in Kaduna stated that ‘the role of WHO in eradicating polio in Nigeria can be said to be excellent. More particularly, the involvement of the local populace and their religious leaders have played a very important role in the success of the programme.

In Jega LGA of Kebbi state, the local village head said on behalf of the crowd: “It is now that you are bringing what we want and we can assure you that all the children will be brought out to be vaccinated with OPV without any resistance”.

This level of trust and confidence has been developed with the strong support from partners that include UNICEF, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the European Union, Japanese and Canadian governments to coordinate the availability of OPV and other commodities to address communities’ health needs in high risk communities.

“Working with religious leaders and partners has effectively created community demand for OPV, this has been instrumental in the fight against the disease, especially in persistently poor performing high-risk communities of northern Nigeria,” adds Dr Vaz.

Continued surveillance and vigilance

WHO will continue to support the government of Nigeria in the training of personnel and community sensitization to be able to quickly detect and respond to any suspected polio case. The gold standard for polio surveillance in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) Programme is the detection of cases of Acute Flaccid Paralysis (AFP) and laboratory testing of stool specimens from these patients in a WHO accredited laboratory. This is how Isa’s case was detected.

In addition, environmental surveillance is complimentary to AFP surveillance as it can also detect circulation of wild and/or vaccine-derived polioviruses in the population.

A legacy for future public health programmes

Text Box: Planting the ‘polio legacy trees’.Nigeria is on the brink of being removed from the polio-endemic list, allowing the lessons learnt to be applied to other public health threats. The structures and resources employed by the polio eradication initiative will be essential in the fight against other vaccine-preventable diseases and the overall strengthening of health systems to improve the performance of health care delivery throughout the African Region.

However, mothers like Binta can count on the Government of Nigeria, WHO and partners to remain vigilant in ensuring Nigeria stays polio-free.