Africa is free from wild polio – WHO

Africa is free from wild polio

Africa is free from wild polio

Africa is free from wild polio - WHO

Africa has been declared totally free from wild polio by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Polio is a virus that usually affects children under five. Sometimes, it can lead to irreversible paralysis. When breathing muscles are affected, death can occur.

African children were known to be paralysed by the virus 25 years ago.

Although there is no cure for polio, a vaccine can give children protection for life. Record has it that more than 95% of Africa’s population has been immunised currently.

Nigeria is the last African country to be declared free from wild polio, having accounted for more than half of all global cases less than a decade ago.

The vaccination campaign in Nigeria involved a huge effort to reach remote and dangerous places under threat from militant violence and some health workers were killed.

Now, only the vaccine-derived polio virus remains in Africa with 177 cases being identified this year. This is a rare form of the virus that mutates from the oral polio vaccine and can then spread to under-immunised communities.

The disease is now only found in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

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