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. 2015 Aug 21;64(32):878-82.
doi: 10.15585/mmwr.mm6432a5.

Progress Toward Poliomyelitis Eradication--Nigeria, January 2014-July 2015

Andrew Etsano, Rajni Gunnala, Faisal Shuaib, Eunice Damisa, Pascal Mkanda, Johnson M Ticha, Richard Banda, Charles Korir, Ana Elena Chevez, Ogu Enemaku, Melissa Corkum, Lora B Davis, Gatei-Wa Nganda, Cara C Burns, Steven G F Wassilak, John F Vertefeuille

Progress Toward Poliomyelitis Eradication--Nigeria, January 2014-July 2015

Andrew Etsano et al. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. .

Abstract

Since the 1988 launch of global poliomyelitis eradication efforts, four of the six World Health Organization (WHO) regions have been certified polio-free. Nigeria is one of only three countries, along with Afghanistan and Pakistan, where transmission of wild poliovirus (WPV) has never been interrupted. During 2003-2013, northern Nigeria served as a reservoir for WPV reintroduction into 26 previously polio-free countries. In 2012, the Nigerian government launched a national polio eradication emergency plan to intensify efforts to interrupt WPV transmission. This report describes polio eradication activities and progress in Nigeria during January 2014-July 2015 and updates previous reports. No WPV cases have been reported to date in 2015, compared with a total of six cases reported during 2014. Onset of paralysis in the latest reported WPV type 1 (WPV1) case was July 24, 2014. Only one case of circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2) has been reported to date in 2015, compared with 20 cVDPV2 cases during the same period in 2014. Pending final laboratory testing of 218 remaining specimens of 16,617 specimens collected since January 2015, Nigeria could be removed from the WHO list of polio-endemic countries in September 2015. Major remaining challenges to the national polio eradication program include sustaining political support and program funding in the absence of active WPV transmission, maintaining high levels of population immunity in hard-to-reach areas, and accessing children in security-compromised areas of the northeastern states.

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Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Areas inaccessible to vaccination teams, by proportion of inaccessible settlements — Borno and Yobe states, northern Nigeria, January 2014–June 2015
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Cases of nonpolio acute flaccid paralysis reported (N = 435)* — Borno and Yobe states, northeast Nigeria, January–July 2015 * Each dot represents one case.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Number of cases of wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1), wild poliovirus type 3 (WPV3), and vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (VDPV2), by month — Nigeria, January 2012–July 2015
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Porter KA, Diop OM, Burns CC, Tangermann RH, Wassilak SG. Tracking progress toward polio eradication—worldwide, 2013–2014. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2015;64:415–20. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Etsano A, Gunnala R, Shuaib F, et al. Progress toward poliomyelitis eradication—Nigeria, January 2013–September 2014. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2014;63:1059–63. - PMC - PubMed
    1. National Primary Healthcare Development Agency. Nigeria polio eradication emergency plan 2015. Abuja, Nigeria: 2015. Available at http://www.polioeradication.org/Portals/0/Document/Aboutus/Governance/IM....
    1. CDC. Progress toward poliomyelitis eradication—Nigeria, January 2012–September 2013. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2013;62:1009–13. - PMC - PubMed
    1. WHO and United Nations Children’s Fund. Estimates of national immunization coverage. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization; 2014. Available at http://www.who.int/immunization/monitoring_surveillance/data/nga.pdf.

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