Polio Eradication Initiative (PEI) Emergency Plan: A Panacea for Polio Eradication in Nigeria

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND.Nigeria has persistently fallen short of the goal to halt and eradicate the transmission of the poliomyelitis virus. The most recent failure of yet again another major polio eradication program under the Global Polio Emergency Initiative 2010-2012 calls for a review of the Nigerian Polio Eradication Initiative Emergency Plan developed under this scheme and time period. This is to determine whether the deployed strategies were optimum to tackle and surmount the intractable problem of sub- optimal vaccine coverage which has remained a critical bottleneck in the successful eradication of the polio virus in Nigeria. It becomes pertinent therefore; to appraise this latest effort to avoid a recurrence of failure in subsequent polio eradication programs.METHODS.A review of related and available literature was conducted on the subject matter using the Google search engine; Google Scholar; and PubMed using the key words polio; eradication; Nigeria; and Global Polio Eradication Initiative.RESULT.Much progress has been made towards achieving the required coverage threshold to completely eradicate polio but the inherent weaknesses and gaps in the Polio Eradication Initiative Emergency Plan plugs eradication efforts back into the vicious cycle of recurrent failure.CONCLUSION. Successful polio eradication efforts through the Polio Eradication Initiative Emergency Plan need to target realistic goals. Current efforts and strategies need to be scaled up and sustained to permanently address the persistent issue of sub optimal coverage of polio immunization