Khadijah Aliyu Nigeria
Ministers of Health from the Lake Chad Basin countries and Sahel sub-region have launched a comprehensive cross-border coordination plan to combat the spread of variant poliovirus in Central and West Africa.
This initiative aims to strengthen collaboration among seven key countries – Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Mali, Niger, and Nigeria – to interrupt transmission by the end of 2025.
The plan focuses on:
Enhanced Cross-Border Coordination: Establishing multi-country coordination mechanisms to oversee cross-border activities and facilitate seamless cooperation among nations.
Synchronized Vaccination Campaigns: Implementing high-quality immunization campaigns across borders to cover all at-risk populations.
Strengthened Routine Immunization: Prioritizing reaching unvaccinated and under-vaccinated children.
Community Engagement: Conducting joint community engagement activities across borders to foster cooperation and ensure communities are well-informed.
The African Region, declared free of indigenous wild poliovirus in August 2020, now faces the urgent threat of type 2 variant poliovirus transmission. This initiative is part of a broader Africa Regional Polio Eradication Action Plan ¹ ² ³ ⁴ ⁵[10).
By December 2025, the goal is to interrupt all ongoing polio transmission. A new “Lake Chad Basin Task Team” will centralize the polio response, enabling real-time information sharing for informed public health decisions.
Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa, emphasizes the need for a unified, inter-country response, while Gilles Fagninou, UNICEF Regional Director, commends governments for their leadership in implementing high-quality synchronized polio campaigns.
With nearly 70 million children vaccinated across critical areas since the beginning of 2024, this collective effort is vital to achieving a polio-free Africa by the end of 2026.
