TheCable

The world is closer than ever to being polio-free as Nigeria, one of the countries still affected by the virus, had only four reported cases in 2016, says the World Health Organisation (WHO).

“The executive board of the World Health Organization at its meeting in Geneva last week noted that the world is closer than ever to being polio-free, and urged for increased support to the remaining endemic countries,” a statement on the global polio eradication initiative (GPEI) website read.

According to GPEI, polio has been restricted to five countries: Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria, Guinea and Lao People’s Democratic Republic.

“No new cases of wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) were reported in the past week. The total number of WPV1 cases for 2016 remains four. The most recent case had onset of paralysis on 21 August in Monguno Local Government Area (LGA), Borno.

“Nigeria continues to implement emergency outbreak response, both in response to the detected WPV1 strain and circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2) strains affecting the country.”

Pakistan had 20 reported cases in 2016, Afghanistan reported 13 while Lao People’s Democratic Republic reported three cases.

“No circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type two (cVDPV2) cases have been reported from Guinea in 2016. The most recent case was reported from Kankan district with onset of paralysis on 14 December 2015. The total number of cVDPV2 cases for 2015 is seven.

“While signs are positive in Guinea, and it has been more than a year since the last case had onset of paralysis, gaps remain sub-nationally both in population immunity and surveillance sensitivity.”