The Government of Japan has approved a $33.3 million humanitarian emergency funding to fight polio in Nigeria, Chad, Niger, Cameroon and the Central African Republic.

Of this $33.3 million, about $27 million will be used in Nigeria. The money will be used to purchase polio vaccines, conduct house-to-house polio vaccination campaigns and support efforts to mobilize communities for vaccination in the targeted countries.

“This funding fills an urgent need in supporting the ongoing polio vaccination campaigns. It will bring Nigeria back to being within reach of eradicating polio and will protect its neighbors against the spread of the virus,” UNICEF representative, Mohamed Fall said.

Fall explained that the Japanese government is also supporting UNICEF in preventing and treating malnutrition among children affected by the humanitarian crisis in the northeast of Nigeria. UNICEF estimates that about 450,000 children will suffer from Severe Acute Malnutrition in the three states most affected by the Boko Haram insurgency.

In this regard, the governments of the regions, in partnership with the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), which comprises WHO, UNICEF, Rotary International, CDC and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), have carried out emergency vaccination campaigns across the region to raise childhood immunity to polio and guard against further spread.

Anita Fatunji