WHO official: Central Africa region prone to wild poliovirus

Central African region remains prone to wild poliovirus type 1, resident representative of World Health Organization (WHO) in Burundi Babacar Drame said on Monday.
Drame who was speaking in Bujumbura during the opening of a forum on the eradication of polio in Central Africa, explained that it was possible to rapidly fight against the disease if proper cross-border surveillance mechanisms are put in place.
He said throughout this year, only 36 cases of wild poliovirus type 1 have been discovered across the world while 13 of them were in Central Africa.
WHO, he said, was happy that Burundi had managed to eradicate the disease.
The progress achieved by Burundi, especially with regards to routine anti-polio vaccination campaigns and putting in place proper surveillance mechanisms should be emulated by every country, the WHO official said.
However, he said, although Burundi had obtained certification for the eradication of polio, it has to keep being vigilant and supporting other affected countries to eradicate the disease by 2015, which is the deadline set by the world health body.