A COMPREHENSIVE six-year plan  to end polio through strengthening immunisation systems and vaccinating one billion children  has been presented by the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, GPEI.

Nigeria’s Minister of State for Health, Dr. Muhammad Aliyu Pate, and other global leaders  who gathered at the  Global Vaccine Summit, held in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates, expressed   confidence about the plan to achieve a lasting polio-free world by 2018.

At the event, close to three-quarters of the plan’s projected US$5.5 billion cost over six years  was pledged to support efforts towards eradicating  all types of polio strains from the surface  over the nest three years.

The budget requires sustaining current yearly spending to eradicate polio.  It includes the costs of reaching and vaccinating more than 250 million children multiple times every year, monitoring and surveillance in Nigeria and more than 70 other countries, and securing the infrastructure that can benefit other health and development programmes.

Main objectives of the plan include: poliovirus detection/interruption; immunisation systems strengthening and OPV withdrawal; containment and certification; and legacy planning.