eHealth Africa (eHA) has announced a partnership with the Solina Centre for International Development and Research (SCIDaR) to strengthen the fight against circulating Variant Polio Virus2 (cVPV2) in Nigeria.
Development Diaries reports that cVPV2 remains a challenge for Nigeria, with the country reporting 168 cases in 2022 alone.
This partnership, according to a statement from eHA, involves supporting the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), the National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC), and other key stakeholders in the polio outbreak response.
It is understood that the response will take place in Kaduna, Katsina, Kebbi, Niger, Sokoto, Yobe, and Zamfara states, all in the country’s northern region.
The statement added that the partnership will cover Geographic Information System (GIS) tracking during polio campaign implementation in security-compromised and partially-accessible settlements.
The organsiation’s Programme Manager, Nnenna Ohiaeri, said the project aims to reach every child in security-compromised settlements with their required polio vaccination.
‘As part of this project deliverables, eHealth Africa will provide equipment for GIS tracking and human resources to support the tracking of campaign implementation activities during the Polio “Special Intervention” campaigns in the seven priority states’, she said in a chat with journalists.
‘eHA will also build the technical capacity of the LGA teams, for long-term sustainability of the project’s successes’.
She expressed confidence that the partnership will help improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the polio vaccination campaign, thereby reducing the incidence of vaccine-derived polio in Nigeria.
‘The use of GIS tracking systems will enable us to better target and monitor the implementation of the campaign, ensuring that all vaccine-eligible children in priority LGAs are reached with the vaccine’, she said.
Ohiaeri said the initiative is a significant step towards achieving the global goal of completely eradicating polio.
