NAIROBI, Nov. 12 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations health agency on Monday called for concerted efforts to help eradicate polio outbreaks in Africa.
Rudi Eggers, World Health Organization (WHO) Kenya country representative, said that countries across Africa are taking great strides towards polio eradication and thus require necessary support.
"Polio cases must be stopped through vaccination of every last child and strengthening surveillance," Eggers said at a pan-African conference in Nairobi to review progress made towards elimination of polio in the continent.
He added that these outbreaks must be stopped in the same way as wild poliovirus by ensuring routine immunization and conducting good quality immunization campaigns to contain polio infectious materials.
The WHO official noted that several initiatives including the use of technological innovations are being conducted and it is necessary to ensure access to inaccessible and hard to reach areas as well as mobile populations to implement high quality surveillance and immunization activities.
He told the delegates that polio eradication effort is now at a crucial stage where "business unusual" will make a difference in ensuring that the poliovirus circulation is finally interrupted in the remaining endemic countries and in countries experiencing outbreaks.
"We have to implement our efforts in combination with new and innovative strategies, in order to become more effective in achieving desired results," Eggers said.
The five-day conference brought together senior policymakers and medical experts drawn from the sub-Saharan African region to take stock of milestones achieved in the quest to become polio free.
During this meeting, seven countries including Cameroon, Nigeria, South Sudan and South Africa will submit reports on efforts being made to eradicate polio.
Sicily Kariuki, Kenya's Cabinet Secretary for Health, said that Kenya has worked hard to rid the country of wild poliovirus and will continue to do so until Africa and the world are certified polio-free.
Kariuki said that national immunization programs have succeeded in the country. "We have introduced one dose of inactivated polio vaccine, set up nine collection sites in the whole country and plans to increase the number to 18."
She said that the country is on course in implementing laboratory certification committee as was recommended by the Africa Regional Certification Commission for Polio Eradication (ARCC).
Kariuki, however, noted that insecurity in northern and north eastern Kenya, inaccessibility of vaccination services in hard to reach areas and inadequate funding for Acute Flaccid Paralysis surveillance activities are still a problem.
Rose Leke, chairperson of ARCC, a pan-African body tasked with eradication of polio in the continent, attributed the presence of polio in the continent to insecurity and inaccessibility of some parts of Africa.
"We visit the countries and help push them towards being certified free from wild poliovirus," Leke said.
She praised efforts of the Horn of Africa that the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Lake Chad Basin team despite all the challenges.
She noted that the ARCC members advocate for accelerated effort by member countries so as to help rid out the disease from the continent.
The official noted that countries that do not put up expected efforts are likely to be recalled to start their surveillance a fresh.
According to the WHO, the world is closer than it has ever been to polio eradication, with just three remaining polio endemic countries - Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria.
The Africa region has made remarkable progress toward stopping the transmission of wild poliovirus since 1988, when the Global Polio Eradication Initiative was established.
