Germany donates €10m to end polio in Nigeria

The German government, through German Development Bank, KfW, says it has signed a grant of 10 million euros to support polio eradication in Nigeria.

KfW says seven million euros will be made available through the World Health Organisation (WHO), while the United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEFthe other three million euros would be made available.

“The grant we signed today will go a long way in ensuring that efforts to eradicate polio in Nigeria are achieved. We were close to making history last year until when some new polio cases cropped up in the insecure and inaccessible areas of Borno state. With this grant, we will continue to conduct activities that reach children with vaccine to prevent any spread of the virus and to achieve poliovirus interruption,” Geoffrey Onyeama, minister of foreign affairs said at the signing ceremony on Tuesday.

Bernhard Schlagheck, German ambassador to Nigeria, said his government had been working with its Nigerian counterpart in the area of polio eradication.

“Past agreements signed with the government of Nigeria supporting polio eradication have amounted to over 110 million euros. We are committed to supporting Nigeria achieve a polio-free world,” he said.

The grant funding will support the national polio eradication emergency plan activities which include reaching children under five years with oral polio vaccine through high-quality supplementary immunisation activities, vaccinating children in recently accessible and inaccessible areas, and cross border immunisation activities among others.

In August 2016, wild poliovirus (WPV) was detected in Borno state after Nigeria had previously been declared polio-free.

As of the end of 2016, there were four reported cases of polio and the national polio emergency operations centre, mounted an aggressive outbreak response to vaccinate children with special innovations in insecure areas.