Nigeria: Country will meet December target to eradicate polio

Health officials in northern Nigeria, supported by UN health agencies, have declared a five-day polio immunisation campaign a success and expressed confidence they can meet a December 2006 deadline to eradicate the disease among 10 million children. "I wish to reiterate the commitment of the federal government of Nigeria to the interruption of the wide polio virus transmission by the end of 2006," Health Minister Eyitayo Lambo told a meeting of international health and donor agencies as well as health officials from the region.