Infectious Diseases News South Africa

West Africa: Health workers inch toward eliminating polio

DAKAR: Nigeria has confirmed 193 polio cases in 2009 but as the latest round of vaccinations comes to a close international experts say they are gaining ground in the fight to eliminate polio in Nigeria.

“The campaign is going well,” said Alex Gasasira, head of the World Health Organisation's (WHO) polio programme in Nigeria. “I don't see why Nigeria cannot eliminate polio. A lot more work needs to be done to reach that goal. But if we can learn from and improve on each campaign round, we should at least see polio reaching very, very low levels by end of year.”

Abdurrahman Yakubu, co-ordinator for Kano state immunisation programme, told IRIN: “We are making tremendous success in polio immunisation. With improved logistics we are now reaching all corners of the state."

Read the full article on IRIN

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