FG Sets Up Task Team to Tackle Wild Polio Outbreak

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

Following the recent outbreak of the Wild Polio Virus (WPV) in Malawi, the federal government said that it has put measures in place to safeguard the country against importation of the virus.

A statement signed by the Executive Director of the National Primary HealthCare Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr. Faisal Shuaib, said that one of the measures was the reactivation and reconstitution of the Expert Review Committee on Polio Eradication and Routine Immunisation (ERC).

Shuaib said that ERC was to provide expert advice and guidance on strategies and approaches for polio eradication and routine immunisation.

According to Shuaib, “the committee will meet periodically to review the country’s polio eradication and routine immunisation programmes taking into consideration population-based and laboratory studies, programmatic approaches, cost information, and other issues so as to provide holistic and practical advice to the country.”

He said that the ERC’s expert advice had contributed immensely to the country’s achievement of WPV-free status in August 2020.

“Consequently, 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.

“The ERC is expected to 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,” he said.

The statement listed members of reconstituted 12-member expert committee to include; a public health expert, Prof. Akin Osibogun (chairman).

It said that other members were drawn from the academia, the media, donors and development partners including WHO, CDC and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

The members include; 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).

It added that the reconstituted ERC has a renewable tenure of two years and will be inaugurated at a date to be announced soon.