Lagos, Aug 25, 2020 – The World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday declared that Africa was free of the virus that causes polio, a landmark in a decades-long campaign to eradicate the notorious disease around the world. “Today is a historic day for Africa,” said Professor Rose Gana Fomban Leke, whose commission certified that no polio cases had occurred on the continent for the past four years, the threshold for eradication. The last case of polio in Africa was detected in 2016 in Nigeria, where vaccination had been violently opposed by jihadists who claimed it was a plotto sterilise Muslims. Now future generations of African children can live free of wild polio,” said Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO’s regional director for Africa. The next step is to ensure that Africa is shielded from any polio cases from Pakistan or Afghanistan and continue vaccinations of children to ensure that communities are safe.

Source: The North Africa Journal August 25, 2020 18:22 UTC