Polio Legacy in Action: Using the Polio Eradication Infrastructure for Measles Elimination in Nigeria—The National Stop Transmission of Polio Program

Abstract

From 2012 to date, Nigeria has been the focus of intensified polio eradication efforts. Large investments made by multiple partner organizations and the federal Ministry of Health to support strategies and resources, including personnel, for increasing vaccination coverage and improved performance monitoring paid off, as the number of wild poliovirus (WPV) cases detected in Nigeria were reduced significantly, from 122 in 2012 to 6 in 2014. No WPV cases were detected in Nigeria in 2015 and as at March 2017, only 4 WPV cases had been detected. Given the momentum gained toward polio eradication, these resources seem well positioned to help advance other priority health agendas in Nigeria, particularly the control of vaccine-preventable diseases, such as measles. Despite implementation of mass measles vaccination campaigns, measles outbreaks continue to occur regularly in Nigeria, leading to high morbidity and mortality rates for children <5 years of age. The National Stop Transmission of Polio (NSTOP) program was collaboratively established in 2012 to create a network of staff working at national, state, and district levels in areas deemed high risk for vaccine-preventable disease outbreaks. As an example of how the polio legacy can create long-lasting improvements to public health beyond polio, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will transition >180 NSTOP officers to provide technical experience to improve measles surveillance, routine vaccination coverage, and outbreak investigation and response in high-risk areas.

The synergy between Expanded Program on Immunization and Polio Eradication Initiative in Pakistan: a policy and program exploration

“…13 Several studies have shown that both programs can support each other in achieving targets. [15][16][17] However, an important argument is that these complementary effects are not automatic; they have to be deliberately planned. 18 Guidance is available for this planning to absorb polio resources into immunization and other public health programs during post-polio times.…”

Polio and Its Epidemiology

“…An indirect financial advantage is that the organizational capabilities experience expertise and facilities including laboratories in the Global Polio Laboratory Network may be employed to solve other health-related problems (for example, in Nigeria, some staff in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will use their technical experience with polio to improve measles surveillance, routine measles vaccination coverage, and measles outbreak investigation and response in high-risk areas [371]).…”

Comparison of Micro-Census Results for Magarya Ward, Wurno Local Government Area of Sokoto State, Nigeria, with Other Sources of Denominator Data

“…The engagement of community leaders was generated by local-based staff of the National Stop Transmission of Polio (NSTOP) program, which was established in 2012 to create a network of staff working at national, state, and district levels in areas deemed high risk for vaccine-preventable disease outbreaks [17]. Town announcers promoted the micro-census across the ward during the two days preceding the activity and throughout the enumeration period, 11-17 July, 2018.…”