Progress Toward Poliomyelitis Eradication

the Nigerian government created an emergency operations center and implemented a national emergency action plan to eradicate polio. The 2013 revision of this plan prioritized (1) improving the quality of supplemental immu-nization activities (SIAs), (2) implementing strategies to reach underserved populations, (3) adopting special ap-proaches in security-compromised areas, (4) improving outbreak response, (5) enhancing routine immunization and activities implemented between SIAs, and (6) strengthening surveillance. This report summarizes implementa-tion of these activities during a period of unprecedented insecurity and violence, including the killing of health work-ers and the onset of a state of emergency in the northeast zone. Methods. This report reviews management strategies, innovations, trends in case counts, vaccination and social mobilization activities, and surveillance and monitoring data to assess progress in polio eradication in Nigeria. Results. Nigeria has made significant improvements in the management of polio eradication initiative (pei) activities with marked improvement in the quality of SIAs, as measured by lot quality assurance sampling (LQAS). Comparing results from February 2012 with results from December 2013, the proportion of local govern-ment areas (LGAs) conducting LQAS in the 11 high-risk states at the ≥90 % pass/fail threshold increased from 7 % t