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Nigeria has been brought to the forefront as the latest country to finally rid itself of the polio scourge! The country has been declared polio-free for a year. Polio is an highly communicable disease which is caused by a virus and affects mainly children. Speaking with a USAID personnel who has been working on Polio eradication for 17 years, Ellyn Ogden told the VOA that national pride is what motivated the Nigerian government to push its efforts to end the transmission of the virus. She noted that it was just a few years ago things started coming together: the government started working on closing the gaps and partnering for support with the UN and other organizations; NGOs, civil society, religious leaders, traditional leaders, and the masses came together to solve the problems and reach every child in Nigeria. Ellyn noted that the challenges the country in partnership with USAID had to overcome were educating the general populace about Polio, tracking nomadic people and making sure their children were immunized and immunizing in the northern region of the country during the lulls of civil unrest. Carol Pandek who heads the Rotary International Program commended Nigeria for successfully being polio-free saying, “Now they need to continue to do high quality immunization campaigns for the next several years, as well as a strong surveillance system so, should there be any new cases, they can be identified as soon as possible.” If Nigeria can stay polio-free for two more years, the virus will no longer exist in Africa and the WHO will certify the whole African continent polio-free. With a safe and effective vaccine, which has been made available since 1955, the world can now look forward to a future that is polio-free. Kudos to the Nigerian government, medical personnel, NGOs, and everyone who made this feat possible. Hopefully polio will never return to our land.   Source: VOA News
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This article was first published on 22nd July 2015

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