By Miriam Humbe, Abuja
The February 24, 2022 invasion of the Ukrainian nation by Russia may have put the European nation on the world news for all the wrong reasons.
However, the devastating war occasioned by the ‘unwarranted aggression’ from their neighbors, the Russians may not be the only challenge faced by Ukraine.
The World Health Organization, (WHO) in a post on its Twitter handle, revealed that it had been assisting Ukraine to respond to the polio virus type 2 which was detected in the country since 2021.
Posting on its official Twitter handle, @WHO on Tuesday, the world health body said that it was working with international partners, national authorities and local communities to stop the spread of the virus.
@WHO proudly announced that there was no further detected cases of polio in the country.
@WHO tweeted: “Circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 was detected in #Ukraine in 2021.
“Since then, WHO and its partners have been assisting Ukraine to respond to the #polio outbreak.
“Thanks to the concerted efforts of WHO, international partners, national authorities and local communities, no cases of polio have been detected in the country for over a year.
“Dr Raymond Dankoli, WHO Polio Outbreak Response Coordinator and others on the ground explain what it takes to detect and stop transmission of this deadly disease.”
It is estimated that nearly half a million polio-related deaths are recorded globally on an annual basis.
