While the coronavirus is still a huge threat to the entire world, Africa has one piece of good news regarding another virus that, has finally been defeated. After decades of strenuous effort, the continent was declared free of “wild” polio. The announcement was made on Tuesday (August 25th 2020), by the WHO African Region.
Just a generation ago, in 1996, more than 75,000 African children were paralyzed by this disease. The elimination of the wild polio virus from every corner of the African region began with a call-to-action by the late South African President Nelson Mandela. He challenged African heads of state and worldwide leaders to mobilize together to “kick polio out of Africa.” The wild polio virus now exists in only two Asian countries: Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The historic breakthrough follows the eradication of the virus from Nigeria, the last African country where it still existed and where, for many years, vaccination and information campaigns were hindered by the violence of the terror organization, Boko Haram. The unfailing efforts of health personnel and local volunteers eventually brought the disease under control in the Borno state, the epicenter of the violence that the country has suffered.
The World Health Organization estimates that mass polio vaccination programs have prevented more than 13 million polio cases since 2000 and reports that last year there were just 300 cases across Africa.
“This is a momentous milestone for Africa,” said Matshidiso Moeti, the World Health Organisation’s Africa director. “It marks only the second eradication of a virus from the surface of the continent since smallpox.”
Despite this recent success, in several African countries, such as Nigeria, Congo and Angola, there are still sporadic cases of the polio virus that, rather than spreading “wildly”, can occur precisely as a result of a vaccination. Because vaccines can contain small amounts of “active” virus, designed to trigger the human immune system, the virus can, in rare cases, mutate and cause a new disease, particularly in communities with relatively low vaccination coverage.
The wild polio virus, which is highly infectious and usually spread through contaminated water, mainly affects children. The symptoms of paralysis that polio causes can become so bad that respiratory muscles cease to work and the patient can die.
Whilst more than 95% of Africa’s population has now been immunizes, the WHO has reiterated that it is important that countries remain vigilant and avoid complacency until the global eradication has been achieved
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