Polio Control Programme VII

completed

In 1988, the international community agreed to eradicate polio. In order to interrupt the transmission of the virus worldwide, WHO and UNICEF developed a global strategy under the umbrella of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), which has been implemented with particular intensity in the last three remaining endemic countries of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria since 2012. Between 1988 and 2018, the number of infections worldwide was reduced from 350,000 to 29 cases per year. At the same time, the number of endemic countries fell from 125 to three. Nigeria has been particularly successful, as no new outbreaks of the wild polio virus have been registered there since September 2016. However, the battle to eradicate polio has not yet been won in Nigeria either. Against this background, the highest level of urgency that the WHO declared for the fight against polio in 2012 still applies, including to Nigeria. The FC-financed programme aims to help interrupt the transmission of the poliovirus in Nigeria. It thus contributes directly to the global eradication of the virus. As in the previous phases V and VI, the FC funds from programme phase VII will be used to finance operational costs for the preparation and implementation of vaccination campaigns, and if necessary also for the procurement of vaccines. The target group is all children under five years of age in Nigeria, especially children in the high-risk states. By reducing or preventing polio infections in Nigeria and in the neighbouring states, the programme makes a direct contribution to achieving Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 4 (improving child health). The FC contribution for phase VII is EUR 10 million. Given the existing funding bottlenecks, it is intended to make the FC funds available directly to WHO and UNICEF as early as possible - analogous to phases IV to VI. The funds will be used by WHO and UNICEF in coordination with the Nigerian sponsor NPHCDA to implement the Nigeria Polio Eradication Emergency Plan (NPEEP) 2015/16. Phase VII is a stock-tested part of the Phase VI program proposal from January 2014.