By Ishaya Ibrahim, News Editor
President Muhammadu Buhari Tuesday expressed optimism that African countries can defeat the coronavirus pandemic, in the same manner, it eradicated the Wild Polio Virus on the continent.
President Buhari spoke in Abuja at the formal certification of the Wild Polio Virus eradication in the African region during the virtual session of the 70th World Health Organisation (WHO) regional committee for Africa.
‘‘I recall that shortly after assuming office in May 2015,” Buhari said, “I made a pledge to Nigerians that I would not bequeath a polio-endemic country to my successor.
‘‘This certification is, therefore, a personal fulfillment of that pledge to not only Nigerians, but to all Africans.
‘‘At a time when the global community is battling the COVID-19 pandemic, this achievement strengthens my conviction that with the requisite political will, investments and strategies, as well as citizens’ commitment, we will flatten the epidemic curve.
‘‘I can affirm the commitment of all African leaders to this course of action,’’ the President said in his remarks celebrating the historic feat.
The President assured the global community that Nigeria will sustain the momentum and leverage on the lessons learnt from polio eradication to strengthen her health system, especially primary health care, and prioritize health security.
He said Nigeria used data systems, community engagement and innovative technology to monitor and predict the occurrence of polio outbreaks, adding that these same skills and tools are being used to fight COVID-19 and the multi-country outbreaks of Circulating Vaccine Derived Polio Viruses.
President Buhari, who described the achievement as a truly historic moment, commended President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa and Chairman of the African Union, under whose leadership, Africa crossed the finishing line.
He recounted that the journey to eradicate the virus dates back to 1996, when Nelson Mandela of blessed memory launched the Kick Polio out of Africa campaign.
The Nigerian leader also used the occasion to congratulate Dr. Matshidiso Moeti and the WHO Regional Committee for Africa on their untiring efforts, contributions and leadership towards polio eradication in Africa.
‘‘We must guard this achievement of the eradication of Wild Polio Virus in Africa jealously and ensure that we take all necessary steps to prevent a resurgence of this dreaded disease.
‘‘This will require maintaining the highest quality of surveillance and sustaining population immunity through increasing routine immunization coverage and supplemental immunization activities.
‘‘It is heartwarming to note how the strong partnership between the Global Polio Eradication Initiative and Governments of African countries worked tirelessly and collaboratively to deliver this success,’’ he said.
The President further commended the decades of hard work and resilience of health workers and volunteers across the region, Ministers of Health and other stakeholders such as political, traditional, religious and community leaders who provided the required support and leadership.
‘‘I would also like to appreciate the invaluable support of our donors, development and local partners such as WHO, UNICEF, Rotary International, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Aliko Dangote Foundation, United States Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, GAVI, USAID, European Union, Emeka Offor Foundation, the Japanese and German Governments, numerous NGOs and faith-based organizations.
‘‘These are truly the heroes and heroines of many battles that have made us triumphant in the war against polio,’’ he said.
Stressing the need to sustain vaccination of children in Africa, the President urged African governments to continue investments in the health sector because ‘‘healthy populations create wealthy nations.’’
‘‘We must continue to build trust between Government institutions, leaders and citizens, so that we can unite as a people and confront the health and socio-economic challenges we face together,’’ he said.
In his remarks, Chairman, Aliko Dangote Foundation and Africa’s foremost philanthropist, Aliko Dangote urged governments across Africa to increase their budget allocations to the healthcare sector, to help ensure improved basic healthcare for the people.
Dangote expressed deep satisfaction at the final eradication of wild polio in Nigeria, and by extension Africa after years of hard work and collaboration among stakeholders.
Dangote, who played a major role through his Foundation in the eradication of Polio in Nigeria, said, “I want to commend our African leaders, especially my own President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria for his leadership. All levels of government have successfully come together to make this day possible.”
The Africa Regional Certification Commission on Tuesday declared Nigeria and the rest of Africa polio-free.
According to the World Health Organisation (W.H.O), this marks the eradication of a second virus from the face of the continent since smallpox 40 years ago.
In a statement, the organisation commended donors and health workers for saving the lives of children who have been suffering from the disease.
“Thanks to the relentless efforts by governments, donors, frontline health workers and communities, up to 1.8 million children have been saved from the crippling life-long paralysis,” the WHO said in a statement.
“Happiness is an understatement. We’ve been on this marathon for over 30 years,” said Tunji Funsho, a Nigerian doctor and local anti-polio coordinator for Rotary International.
He said it marked a crucial step in the total eradication of the illness at the global level.
“It’s a real achievement, I feel joy and relief at the same time,” he added.
Poliomyelitis, or “wild polio” is an acutely infectious and contagious disease that attacks the spinal cord and causes irreversible paralysis in children.
It was endemic around the world until a vaccine was found in the 1950s, though this remained out of reach for many poorer countries in Asia and Africa.
As late as 1988, the WHO counted 350,000 cases globally, and in 1996 said there were more than 70,000 cases in Africa alone.
Thanks to a rare instance of collective global effort and financial backing — some $19 billion over 30 years — only Afghanistan and Pakistan have recorded cases this year: 87 in total.
Nigeria, a country with 200 million inhabitants, was still among the trouble-spots in the early 2000s.
In its northern Muslim-majority areas, authorities were forced to stop vaccination campaigns in 2003 and 2004 by Islamic extremists who claimed it was a vast conspiracy to sterilise young Muslims.
It took a huge effort in tandem with traditional chiefs and religious leaders to convince populations that the vaccine was safe.
“People trust their local traditional leaders who live with them more than the political leaders,” said Grema Mundube, a community leader in the town of Monguno, in the far north of Nigeria.
“Once we spoke to them and they saw us immunising our children they gradually accepted the vaccine,” he told AFP.
However, the emergence of violent Islamist group Boko Haram in 2009 caused another rupture in the programme. In 2016, four new cases were discovered in Borno state in the northeast in the heart of the conflict.
“At the time, we couldn’t reach two-thirds of the children of Borno state — 400,000 children couldn’t access the vaccine,” said Dr. Funsho.
The security situation remains highly volatile in the region, with the members of Boko Haram and a local Islamic State affiliate controlling vast areas around Lake Chad and the border with Niger.
The security situation remains highly volatile in the region, with the members of Boko Haram and a local Islamic State affiliate controlling vast areas around Lake Chad and the border with Niger.
“International agencies, local governments, donors — all partners took the bull by the horns to find new strategies to manage to reach these children,” said Dr Musa Idowu Audu, coordinator for the WHO in Borno.
In these “partially accessible” areas, vaccination teams worked under the protection of the Nigerian army and local self-defence militias.
For areas fully controlled by the jihadists, the WHO and its partners sought to intercept people coming in and out along the market and transport routes in a bid to spread medical information and recruit “health informants” who could tell them about any polio cases.
“We built a pact of trust with these populations, for instance by giving them free medical supplies,” said Dr Audu.
Today, it is estimated that only 30,000 children are still “inaccessible”: a number considered too low by scientists to allow for an epidemic to break out.
Despite the “extreme happiness and pride” felt by Dr Audu, he never fails to remember the 20 or more medical staff and volunteers killed for the cause in northeast Nigeria in recent years.
The challenge now is to ensure that no new polio cases arrive from Afghanistan or Pakistan and that vaccinations continue to ensure that children across the continent are protected from this vicious disease.
“Before we couldn’t sleep at all. Now we will sleep with one eye open,” said Dr. Funsho.