Abuja – The African region has made significant strides in the fight against polio, reaching a monumental achievement in August 2020 when the region was certified as free of indigenous wild polio after eliminating all forms of wild poliovirus. Professor Tunji Funsho, chair of Rotary’s Nigeria National PolioPlus Committee, discusses the milestones and challenges in the polio fight.

What are the major highlights of the decades-long polio fight in Africa?

Zanzibar - The prevalence rate of malaria in Zanzibar is currently below one percent--the lowest in Tanzania and in the Eastern and Central Africa. The result is one the best news from the review conducted in September 2022 by different stakeholders, including Government and development partners to document implementation of the Zanzibar Malaria Strategic Plan (MSP).

Abuja, 18 October, 2022 - Living at the Internally Displaced Persons’ (IDPs) camp in Damagaza in Abuja, 20- years old Anifa Tsani, a mother of one, is glad she can now make informed choices on her sexual and reproductive health.

She started living in the camp at a very young age and married into the same environment where she barely had enough food to eat. 

GOBABIS- As she reflects on the havoc the Delta variant of the SARS-CoV-2 had wrecked in the Omaheke region over a year ago, 46-year-old Elna Christiana Rooi’s tears flow freely down her face. 

Rooi lost her life-time partner, who was also the father of her children- and sole breadwinner to COVID-19  in May of 2021. She believes the outcome could have been different if they had sought medical attention sooner. 

“To be honest we were very scared of going to the hospital because most of the people who went there did not come out alive,” says Rooi. 

Addis Ababa, October 2022 –The District Health Information System, software version 2 (DHIS2) training is ongoing in 507 woredas of Ethiopia to reach a total of 1,553 participants in 58 sessions. The training aims to digitalize and improve the collection, quality and use of COVID-19 vaccination data. 

Abuja, 13 October, 2022 - As of November 2019, Chidinma Ebele, 22 years old (not his real name), was on top of his game, starting a new job as a research assistant at a non-governmental organization in Abuja. 
 
He had plans outlined for 2020 until the COVID-19 pandemic struck, and things went downhill for him.  At the beginning of the pandemic, he had no cause to be alarmed but as the pandemic dragged on coupled with the lockdowns, the situation became daunting. 

^{By Vivian Mugarisi}