Just as Africa was due to celebrate two polio-free years, it has been announced that the virus has paralysed two children in Nigeria’s Borno state.
The decline of polio in Africa is thanks to a huge public health effort. When these two new cases came to light, the continent had been on track to be declared officially polio free in just one year’s time.
“The overriding priority now is to rapidly immunise all children around the affected area and ensure no other children succumb,” said Matshidiso Moeti, the World Health Organization’s regional director for Africa.
Nigeria previously had a particularly large incidence of polio. As recently as 2012, the country accounted for more than half of all cases globally. But a concerted campaign of immunisation meant that the country was able last month to celebrate two years without a new case.
“This is an important reminder that the world cannot afford to be complacent, as we are on the brink of polio eradication,” said Michel Zaffron, director of WHO’s polio eradication programme. “We are confident that with a swift response and strong collaboration with the Nigerian government, we can soon rid the country of polio once and for all,” he said.
Globally, only 21 wild polio cases have been reported so far this year, compared with 34 at the same point in 2015, and WHO has been predicting that the virus will be completely eradicated by 2019.
Until the Nigeria announcement, Pakistan and Afghanistan were the only remaining countries still reporting cases of the infection. The Taliban has opposed vaccination in both countries.