From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
Federal Government, on Thursday, celebrated third year anniversary of Wild Polio Virus (WPV) eradication in Nigeria.
Minister of health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, who spoke at an event to commemorate the anniversary in Abuja, appreciated the effort of health workers, donor partners and other people that contributed in one way or the other to the success of the fight against polio.
He said: “This day did not come easy as government and development partners made huge investments and sacrifices over the years. The day may have come too late for those who have been paralysed and those frontline health workers who paid the supreme price for the triumph of eradicating the disease.
“However, for the millions of children who are prevented from the crippling effects of WPV these sacrifices will not go in vain and therefore the significance of commemorating this day.”
He said that the main focus of the day is to appreciate those heroes and champions from both government and development partners who made huge investments and sacrifices, and also to create awareness in Nigerians that it takes greater investments and sacrifices to sustain and mantain our WPV eradication status.
He said: “The past three years have been a mixed bag of events for the country as the impact of COVID-19 affected our health system, and also the emerging security in some parts of the country poses a challenge to the onslaught of the re-emerging Variants of the Polio Viruses (cVPV2) which are remnants in the environment as a result of suboptimal environmental sanitation and can potentially be virulent and affect children who have not been enrolled in the Routine Immunization system.”
He said that the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) has been directed to mount the needed response to deal with the viruses within an integrated framework in order to address other public health challenges including the ongoing COVID-19 vaccination in the country.