GPEI introduces needle-free injection deviceTHE Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) has recorded sustained Wild Polio Virus type 3 (WPV3) transmission in Nigeria, even as it conducts trial of needle-free injection device in Cambodia.GPEI in its weekly update on polio said that continued WPV3 transmission in Nigeria is growing into a significant stumbling block along the road to the eradication of WPV3.The report reads: 'There have only been two cases of WPV3 in Asia this year (both in the same district of Pakistan), and previous large outbreaks in west Africa (notably in Cte d'Ivoire, which reported 36 cases earlier this year) have seemingly come to a halt. It is crucial that the transmission of WPV3 in Nigeria is stopped before it can spread any further and undo the progress seen over 2010-2011.'One new case was officially reported this week - a case of WPV3 reassigned from Cameroon (onset of paralysis on 6 October) to a district of Borno (Bama), which had not previously reported a case of WPV this year. The total number of cases for 2011 is now 46. The country's most recent case, a WPV1, had onset of paralysis on 29 October in Jigawa. Despite these latest cases, all wild poliovirus cases detected in Nigeria in 2011 have been covered by at least two Supplementary Immunisation Activities (SIAs).'Also, the Minister of State for Health, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate said a team of three national consultants will conduct a rapid surveillance assessment in Borno on 23 and 24 December, immediately following the SNIDs. This follows rapid surveillance reviews recently conducted in Edo, Ogun and Anambra states. The results from the surveillance review will be eagerly anticipated, as genetic sequencing of the case reassigned from Cameroon indicated that the virus had been circulating, undetected, for over a year. The review will look to provide recommendations to rapidly increase the surveillance sensitivity of Borno State to ensure any remaining pockets of virus are rapidly detected.Meanwhile, it has long been clear that, as the world moves closer to the eradication of polio, there will eventually need to be a switch from the widespread use of OPV to an inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) - an injectable vaccine.However, delivering injections in places with under-resourced health systems and undertrained health workers can be difficult and hazardous. Luckily, a needle-free injection device recently trialed in Cambodia is, so far, proving safe and easy to use.In simple terms, the disposable syringe jet injector (DSJI) uses high pressure to push the vaccine through the skin. Cambodian health workers quickly took to the new technology at training sessions in the lead-up to a measles vaccination campaign in November.Meanwhile, the Executive Director of National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr. Ado J.G Muhammad has called on health professionals both home and abroad to avail themselves their services to the nation to support the health sector component of Presudent Goodluck Jonathan's transformation agenda.Muhammad made the call recently at the annual general meeting and award ceremony of the Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria (MDCAN) in Abuja.Muhammad decried the dearth of health professionals in the rural areas. He said recent nationwide survey of human resources conducted by NPHCDA showed that only 16 per cent of the health workers at the local government councils are doctors, nurses, midwives and pharmacists most of whom work at the headquarters of these councils, while the rest 84 per cent of those whose provide health services do not have health training whatsoever.
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