By Joyce Remi- Babayeju
The Federal Government said it has engaged experts to put measures in place to safeguard Nigeria from the recent outbreak of the Wild Polio Virus, WPV, in Malawi.
Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, NPHCDA, Dr. Faisal Shuaib said the measures put in place is to protect Nigeria against the importation of the virus from Malawi Polio outbreak.
Shuaib said, ” One of such measures is the reactivation and reconstitution of the Expert Review Committee on Polio Eradication and Routine Immunization, ERC.
According to him the ERC provides expert advice and guidance on strategies and approaches for polio eradication can and routine immunization.”
it has become imperative to reactivate the committee following the recent outbreak of WPV in Malawi and the outbreaks of circulating variant of polio virus type 2 (cVPV2) in Nigeria, he emphasized.
In light of this, the ED said that the committee meets periodically to review the country’s polio eradication and routine immunization programmes taking into consideration population-based and laboratory studies, programmatic approaches, cost information, and other issues so as to provide a holistic and practical advice to the country.
Accordingly, the ERC would work with the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency to come up with multistakeholder plans to strengthen surveillance, build population immunity, mitigate against and control all forms of polio viruses, the NPHCDA boss disclosed.
The reconstituted 12-member expert committee is headed by a public health expert, Prof. Akin Osibogun with members drawn from the academia, the media, donors and development partners including WHO, CDC and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Other members are Prof Dorothy Esangbedo, Prof Shuaib Bello, Prof Clara Ejembi, Prof Sade Ogunsola, Prof B.S.C. Uzochukwu, Prof Ilayisu Zubairu, Dr. Muhammad Dallatu, Mr Mannir Dan Ali, Dr Steve Cochi (CDC), Mr Aidan O’Leary
(WHO) and Jay Wenger (BMGF). The reconstituted ERC have a renewable tenure of two years and will be inaugurated at a date to be announced soon.
The agency recalled that the ERC’s expert advice contributed immensely to the country’s achievement of WPV-free status in August 2020.
