The Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, on Thursday said that the World Health Organisation had certified Nigeria as guinea worm free.
Chukwu made the clarification at the Nigerian Medical Students Association International Summit on Global Health in Abuja.
The theme of the summit was: “Knowledge, Imagination and Medicine.”
Chukwu said: “Nigeria is guinea worm free.
“This is authoritative from WHO.
“We have eradicated guinea worm from the country.”
The International Certification Team for Guinea Worm Eradication visited the country from June 27 to July 8.
The team was in the country to verify the claim by Nigeria that no guinea worm transmission exists anywhere in the country.
The infection is caused by a nematode worm, which grows in the body of an infected person and emerges from different parts of the body after maturity.
An infection can follow the consumption of water from ponds and other unsafe sources.
The disease also affects rural dwellers, especially in areas where safe water supply is inadequate or unavailable.
Chukwu said that the country had made progress in the reduction of infant mortality rate and advised the medical students to make community service their priority.
Earlier, Bashir Maru, the President of the association, said that the menace of HIV and AIDS had taken a heavy toll on humanity globally, with unyielding ferocity of a shadowy ghost.
Maru said: “It is most troubling that the prevalence rate still remains at an alarming per cent.
“Childhood diseases such as measles and polio and other health complications, still snatch away our young ones at tender ages.
“The life expectancy rate has plunged to a baseline low globally.”
Maru lamented that the challenges had been aggravated by the dearth of health facilities and qualified medical experts.
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