The Gambia played host to a four-day capacity building on integrated polio surveillance in the African Region.
This event which took place at Bakadaji Hotel, sought to expose participants to new skills and approaches required in terms of surveillance towards totally eradicating polio virus on the continent.
Speaking to journalists, Dr. Ndoutabe Modjirom, coordinator of the WHO-led polio outbreaks Rapid Response Team for the African Region, explained that they are meeting in Banjul to train and strengthen the capacity of francophone when it comes to early detection of all polio cases in Africa region and to work towards implementing quick response to combat further spread of all types of polioviruses so that by 2024 the virus will be eradicated in the continent and beyond.
He thanked The Gambia government for hosting the meeting which he considered important, further expressing optimism that at the end of the form, delegates would be capacitated to be able to work towards combating the spread of the virus in the region.
For his part, Desta Tiruneh, World Health Organization representative, described the forum as one of several events organized across the African region, recalling that a similar one was convened about two weeks ago in Kigali, Rwanda for anglophone Africa, where delegates from The Gambia attended.
WHO rep reminded that the world is on the verge of eradicating polio completely, but that they are facing some challenges as there still exist two countries in Asia, where the virus is still endemic in poliovirus.
“But in addition to that we have what we call vaccine-derived polio viruses which are circulating on the continent. So, these trainings we are organizing across the continent, are meant to strengthen our surveillance system to detect any introduction of these polio virus in any country.”
These efforts, he added, are geared towards completely eradicating the virus on the continent and beyond, further expressing their resolve to wipe out the virus on the face of the earth.
He thus challenged participants to be ready to learn new skills and methods of surveillance in the region and make these surveillance systems up to standards so that no virus poses a threat.
“If we do that then we are ready to eradicate the polio virus completely. That is why we are bringing in so many countries here and this cost a lot of money and energy, but we believe it is necessary and without this, we cannot achieve polio eradication.”