Nigeria has spent $500 million on polio eradication, but challenges remain – Health minister 

The Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, disclosed this on Thursday in Abuja during a high-level meeting with the Polio Oversight Board, development partners, and government officials.

He expressed concern over the financial burden of polio eradication, stating that despite strong political commitment, Nigeria continues to face operational challenges hindering the complete eradication of poliovirus.

“Key among these challenges is false vaccination records, with one in four children marked as vaccinated despite not receiving the vaccine,” he said.

Pate also identified weak supervision as a challenge, leading to inconsistencies in immunization coverage.

He added that poor micro-planning had left vulnerable children unvaccinated, particularly in high-risk communities.

To address these issues, he said the government has activated a Polio Task Force under the National Economic Council (NEC), chaired by Vice President Kashim Shettima.

He stated that Nigeria is working to integrate polio eradication into routine primary healthcare services.

“This aligns with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, which prioritizes expanding primary healthcare infrastructure, improving service delivery, retraining 120,000 frontline health workers, 60,000 of whom have already been trained, and promoting local vaccine production,” he added.

Pate said the agenda also prioritizes strengthening surveillance and outbreak response mechanisms to swiftly detect and address poliovirus cases.

“We are engaging traditional and religious leaders to counter misinformation, but digital platforms must do more to curb false narratives about vaccines,” he added.

Nigeria was declared free of wild poliovirus in 2020, but challenges persist with circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus (cVDPV).

Achieving this goal will require enhanced routine immunization, swift outbreak responses, and robust surveillance systems to detect and address new cases promptly.