Achievement comes following Nigeria vaccination drive, with last cases of wild virus recorded four years agoAfrica to be declared free of wild polio after decades of workAfrica is expected to be declared free from wild polio, after decades of work by a coalition of international health bodies, national and local governments, community volunteers and survivors. As polio survivors we are the happiest and believe we’ll be the last polio survivors in the country.”But he added: “Ninety percent of polio survivors in Nigeria live in poverty. Efforts to eradicate wild polio globally were spurred by the formation of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative in 1988. Since then, cases of wild polio have fallen dramatically from an estimated 350,000 cases to 33 reported cases in 2018. Several violent incidentswere spurred by a rejection of vaccinations by local communities, said Dr Tunji Funsho, head of Rotary International’s Nigeria polio committee.

Source: The Guardian August 25, 2020 05:15 UTC