Misinformation about polio vaccine and political unrest have been cited as the main challenges holding back the global goal of achieving a polio-free world, a study has revealed.
In a study published by theconversation.com last week, attack on the healthcare workers distributing the vaccine has is also a contributing factor.
The report also quoted the recent campaign against the immunisation of children in the country by some churches as one of the challenges facing the global fight against polio.
“Recently, a church in Kenya started misinformation campaign”, the report says. The misinformation going round, the report says, is that the polio vaccine causes sterility or AIDS.
However, the study notes that polio paralysis causes physical suffering, life-long dependency, and loss of productivity and placed a heavy burden on poor families.
Immunisation and surveillance of new polio cases have however been noted as the main strategies in eliminating the remaining 1 percent polio cases across the world.
The report shows that immunisation aims at achieving high level of immunity across all populations while surveillance arm picks up new cases.
The annual number of polio cases has globally dropped by more than 99 percent from about half a million in the 1980s to only 34 cases in 2015.
According to the study, 2.5 billion children across the world have currently been vaccinated against polio.
The report suggests widespread routine vaccination, mass vaccination campaigns and rapid response to polio cases.
In an earlier report released last week, Sub-Saharan Africa is at the verge of being declared polio-free after marking one year without new polio cases with the last case recorded in Nigeria on July 2014.
“If no new cases are reported for another three years, Africa will be certified polio-free by late 2018”, the report read.
The study emphasises the use of innovations to be applied in most challenging conditions to be tailored for each country and its settings.