Nigeria’s polio-free certification likely to affect Africa – UNICEF

The UN Children’s Fund has declared that Nigeria’s likely certification as a polio-free nation in July 2017 was key to the certification of the African continent as polio-free.
The fund’s Health Specialist in Abuja, Ranganai Matema, made the remark in Illela, headquarters of Illela Local Government Area of Sokoto State, when she addressed the members of a non-profit group, Journalists Against Polio.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the journalists were in the area to monitor the 2015 last round of the polio immunisation campaign, which commenced on Saturday.
Matema said: “In Africa, all countries will be certified polio-free when Nigeria is certified polio-free in July 2017.
“This is sequel to the removal of the country from the list of polio-endemic countries, thus leaving only Pakistan and Afghanistan on the list.
“We are happy that Nigeria has not recorded any new case of the wild polio virus since July 24, 2014 and the virus has been rudely interrupted.”
Matema, however, stressed that routine immunisation should be intensified across the nation, while the current tempo should be sustained.
She said: “All pregnant mothers must be fully immunised, while all children aged five years and below should be fully immunised against polio and all the child-killer diseases.
“A remarkable improvement has been achieved in this direction, although more needs to be done.”
NAN.