Ministers declare polio outbreak in Nigeria public health emergency

Ministers of Health of the Member States of the
Lake Chad Basin have declared the recent polio
outbreak in Nigeria as a public health emergency
not only for Nigeria but for all the countries of Lake
Chad Basin.
Considering the challenging security situation in the
region, the ministers solicited the support of the
multi-national military task force to provide
adequate security, safety and facilitation for the
vaccination process.
In a document signed by the ministers of health
from the Lake Chad Basin which comprises Nigeria,
Niger, Chad, Central Africa Republic and Cameroon
during the 66th session of the World Health
Organisation Regional Committee for the African
Region, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the ministers
requested Nigeria and other member states to fully
implement coordinated response to the outbreak in
order to quickly prevent the spread of the disease to
other countries.
They expressed the need to extend support to the
response by including political advocacy and
community engagement at all levels as this will lead
to a successful coordination and implementation of
harmonised polio vaccination activities across the
countries of the Lake Chad sub-region.

Member states were also urged to provide
additional political, financial and technical support
for the regional emergency response.They called on
World Health Organisation (WHO), Regional
Director and other partners to continue with
technical and financial support to accelerate
eradication of poliomyelitis in the region.