The World Health Organization (WHO) is, on Tuesday , set to certify that Nigeria, alongside other countries on the continent is free from wild polio.
This is coming four years after the last cases appeared in northeastern Nigeria.
The WHO said in a statement:
Thanks to the relentless efforts by governments, donors, frontline health workers and communities, up to 1.8 million children have been saved from the crippling life-long paralysis.
The official announcement is due at 1500 GMT in a videoconference with WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and key figures including philanthropist and Microsoft founder, Bill Gates.
Reacting to the development, Tunji Funsho, a Nigerian doctor and local anti-polio coordinator for Rotary International said:
Happiness is an understatement. We’ve been on this marathon for over 30 years.
According to him, it marked a crucial step in the total eradication of the illness at the global level.
He added:
It’s a real achievement, I feel joy and relief at the same time.
Poliomyelitis, or “wild polio” is an acutely infectious and contagious disease which attacks the spinal cord and causes irreversible paralysis in children.
It was endemic around the world until a vaccine was found in the 1950s, though this remained out of reach for many poorer countries in Asia and Africa.
In 1988, the WHO counted 350,000 cases globally, and in 1996 it said that there were more than 70,000 cases in Africa alone.
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Following a collective global effort and financial backing culminating $19 billion over in 30 years, only Afghanistan and Pakistan have recorded cases this year, with 87 in total.
Nigeria, with a population of about 200 million people, was still among the trouble-spots in the early 2000s.
In northern Nigeria, authorities were forced to stop vaccination campaigns in 2003 and 2004 by Islamic extremists who claimed it was a vast conspiracy to sterilise young Muslims.
It took a huge effort in collaboration with traditional chiefs and religious leaders to convince populations that the vaccine was safe.
