OOPS! Nigeria records fresh cases of polio – the first in 24 months

Nigeria’s ministry of health has confirmed two fresh cases of wild polio virus, few weeks after celebrating two years without a single case. 

The cases have also been confirmed by the World Health Organisation, with Isaac Adewole, Nigeria’s minister of health, saying this is a big setback for the nation on health issues.

The government of #Nigeria reports two wild #polio cases. The first since July 2014.

— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) August 11, 2016

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Adewole, who spoke to journalists in Abuja on Thursday, said everything will be done to halt the spread of the virus.

“It is unfortunate that we have the development. It has set us back. But I can assure the nation that we will do everything possible to be on top of the situation,” he said.

“We are meeting again today. We had a meeting yesterday to look at the situation. We are drawing out an emergency plan and in the next 48 hours, we are dispatching a team there and we are going to start immunization.

“We would do three rounds of special immunization campaigns to make sure that we contain the situation.”

He added that “one of the cases is from Gwoza, which is actually close to the border”, while the other one is Jere.

“We suspect that both of them are linked to the insurgents eclipse,” he said.

“Mr. President himself, when we had a meeting last week, observed that as we liberate more areas, we should expect challenges. But we did not expect that there would be polio. We were expecting nutrition and other problems.

“As a nation, we will rise up to the challenge. We are assured by our international partners and we will launch a robust response. We have enough funding for immunization in the 2016 budget.

“We have more projections for 2017 and 2018. We are robustly supported by international partners. We have signed on to a World Bank loan to make ensure that we have enough funding. So, I think money is not the issue. The issue has to do with the access and the insurgency operations.”

Aliko Dangote had warned at the second anniversary of the last recorded polio case that the battle against polio had not be totally won.

2yrs of Nigeria being polio free – Thankful for the commitment of all partners in achieving this milestone. We are not done yet #EndPolio

— Aliko Dangote (@AlikoDangote) July 25, 2016

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