In Photos: African FETPs Help Achieve Wild Polio-Free Milestone

Today, after four years without a single case of wild poliovirus, the World Health Organization (WHO) African Region was officially declared wild polio-free.

This milestone was made possible by the tireless commitment of frontline health workers, including countless Field Epidemiology (and Laboratory) Training Program residents, graduates, and mentors, to reaching every last child with the polio vaccine so that none will endure the pain of this debilitating disease.

We pay tribute to our FE(L)TP colleagues through a special photo gallery* highlighting their efforts to vaccinate every child, no matter how far they must travel or how risky the journey may be.

These efforts must continue in order to prevent wild polio from returning. FE(L)TPs are helping to ensure that they do continue by building the workforce, surveillance, and laboratory diagnostics capacities needed to keep polio away for good.

*All photos in this gallery were submitted by FE(L)TP residents and graduates for past TEPHINET photo contests.

Please click on a photo below to expand it and view its caption.

"This photo was taken in one of the hard-to-reach Fulani settlements during the February 2016 round of Immunization Plus Days in Ayedire Local Government, Osun State. Vaccination team members had to cross the thick forest, the dusty and non-motorable areas on motor bikes, just to reach these underserved and hard-to-reach normads. Here, the vaccination team administers oral polio vaccine to a newborn child (just one day old). The residents of this settlement have to travel long distances to the nearest health facility in order to access basic health care. We conquered the odds to ensure that no child was missed. Every child counts!" --Maureen Anyanwu, Nigerian FELTP resident

(Photo submitted by Maureen Anyanwu)

A grandmother, head of her clan, helps to ensure that eligible children are vaccinated in Gaa Alhaji Ilota, a rural Fulani settlement in Ilorin South Local Government Area (LGA) in Kwara State, Nigeria in July 2019. The Nigerian FELTP's Ayo-Ajayi Patience Oluwatoyin worked on the polio vaccination team that responded to an outbreak of vaccine-derived poliovirus found in an environmental site in the LGA.

(Photo submitted by Ayo-Ajayi Patience Oluwatoyin)

In February 2020, residents of the Ghana FELTP supervise a vaccination team at Kadjebi Market in Kadjebi District, Oti Region, Ghana as part of a Round 2 Monovalent Oral Polio Vaccine (mOPV) campaign.

(Photo submitted by Ernestina Agbemafle)

Tamuno-Wari Numbere (left), a Nigerian FELTP resident, works on a team administering the oral polio vaccine in April 2018 as part of the National Immunization Plus Days. Here, his team vaccinates a child (being supported by his mother) in Asaingbene, a hard-to-reach riverine community, in Yenagoa Local Government Area, Bayelsa State, Nigeria.

(Photo submitted by Tamuno-Wari Numbere)

A child is vaccinated against polio in June 2019 in Komu Village, Itesiwaju Local Government Area, Oyo State, Nigeria under the watchful eye of his father. The child's parents had previously refused vaccination and were given health education on the risks and benefits of the vaccine.

(Photo submitted by Olaniyan Akintunde Babatunde)

Entertainers perform for children to be vaccinated during a polio vaccination campaign in Kaduna, Nigeria, in November 2016.

(Photo submitted by Ummulkhulthum Abubakar Bajoga)

Zambian FETP resident Sara Hanyinza explains to district and facility health staff how to conduct mapping for Supplementary Immunization Activities (SIA) during a polio vaccination campaign in Chipili District, Luapula Province, Zambia (December 2019).

(Photo submitted by Sara Hanyinza)

In July 2018, Nigerian FELTP trainees, graduates, and the National Stop Transmission of Polio Program conducted an evaluation of the acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) surveillance system in Rivers State, Nigeria. Here, as part of the evaluation, team members review records using the Open Data Kit (ODK) tool at the office of the Disease Surveillance and Notification Officer of the Khana Local Government Area, Rivers State, Nigeria.

(Photo submitted by Tamuno-Wari Numbere)

Nigeria FELTP's George Uzoaga and team collect relevant information from the father of an eligible child at a fixed post in Maiawaki Settlement, Bauranya Ward, Kusada Local Government Area, Katsina State during the January 2019 polio outbreak response.

(Photo submitted by George Uzoaga)

Nigerian FELTP resident Jiwok Joseph administers the monovalent oral polio vaccine to an eligible child, who is carrying another eligible child on her back, during the outbreak response to circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus in Share Ward, Kwara State, Nigeria in May 2019.

(Photo submitted by Jiwok Joseph)

Mozambique FELTP graduate Auria Ribeiro Banze worked as an independent monitor on a Round 0 Polio Vaccination Campaign to vaccinate children aged zero to 59 months in Zambézia Province, Mozambique, from January-February 2018.

(Photo submitted by Auria Ribeiro Banze)

Obi Izuchukwu Frank, a Nigerian FELTP graduate, vaccinates an eligible child while supervising house-to-house vaccination teams during a circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus outbreak response at Imeko-Afon Local Government Area, Ogun State, Nigeria in June 2019.

(Photo submitted by Obi Izuchukwu Frank)

Ghana FELTP resident Jessica Asante marks the finger of a child whose fingermark was fading during household monitoring of the Round 1 Supplementary Immunization Activities (SIA) Polio Campaign to identify missed children and carry out active case search for acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) in Premuase, Kajaji Sub-district, Sene-East District, Bono-East Region (January 2020).

(Photo submitted by Jessica Asante)

In April 2019, Nigerian FELTP resident Neni Aworabhi-Oki vaccinates an eligible child in the Bosso Local Government Area in Niger State, Nigeria in response to the circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus outbreaks in some states within the country. She was part of the team deployed to Niger State to support outbreak response using monovalent type 2 oral polio vaccine (mOPV2).

(Photo submitted by Neni Aworabhi-Oki)

A nurse unpacks polio vaccine in Chipili District, Luapula Province, Zambia as surveillance officers and the father of the children to be vaccinated look on during a Monovalent Oral Polio Vaccine Supplementary Immunization Activity (SIA) in December 2019.

(Photo submitted by Sara Hanyinza)

Onyebuchi Okoro, a Nigerian FELTP resident, and members of a vaccination team administer monovalent oral polio vaccine to a child in a rural settlement of Ilaramagbo, Makun-omi Ward, Ogun Waterside Local Government Area, Ogun State, Nigeria during an outbreak response phase two exercise held in June 2019.

(Photo submitted by Onyebuchi Okoro)

A community volunteer marks the finger of a child vaccinated against polio as the child's mother looks on during a Monovalent Oral Polio Vaccine Supplementary Immunization Activity (SIA) conducted in Chipili District, Luapula Province, Zambia in December 2019.

(Photo submitted by Sara Hanyinza)

In April 2019, during an outbreak response in an internally displaced persons (IDP) camp in Konduga Local Government Area, Nigerian FELTP resident Batula Bishara Daggash ensures that a child who has been vaccinated against polio is indicated with a finger marking.

(Photo submitted by Batula Bishara Daggash)

In late May 2019, children under five years of age were immunized with monovalent oral polio vaccine during an outbreak response vaccination exercise carried out in a temporary nomadic settlement in the Ojoku Ward of the Oyun Local Government Area of Kwara State, Nigeria.

(Photo submitted by Kwada Asunduwa Chagwa)

The Guinea FETP participated in monitoring households during the National Immunization Days for children aged zero to 59 months in Songoyah, Faranah District, Guinea in July 2019.

(Photo submitted by Barry Mamadou Billo Aye)

Nigerian FELTP resident Njideka Esther Kanu marks the little finger of a child after administering the oral polio vaccine during the last round of polio outbreak response in Rugan Fulani in the Kwali Local Government Area of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Nigeria in January 2016.

(Photo submitted by Njideka Esther Kanu)

Mozambique FELTP graduate Cídia Amélia Albino Francisco worked as an independent monitor on a Round 0 Polio Vaccination Campaign aiming to vaccinate children aged zero to 59 months. The campaign took place in January-February 2018 in Zambézia Province, Mozambique. As an independent monitor, Cídia's role was to record the number of children whose fingers were marked to prove that they were vaccinated. Cídia also vaccinated children who had not yet received their vaccines.

(Photo submitted by Cídia Amélia Albino Francisco)

Daron Davies A. Agboyie, a resident of the Ghana FELTP, records data for a risk assessment as part of a field investigation of circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2) detected during routine environmental surveillance at Koblimahigu, Tamale Metropolitan, Northern Region of Ghana in July 2019.

(Photo submitted by Daron Davies A. Agboyie)

In August 2012, Nigerian FELTP resident Wada Imam Bello carries polio vaccine across a river to reach the “unreachable” nomads in the Fulani communities at Sabon Layi Ward, Faskari Local Government Area, Katsina, Nigeria.

(Photo submitted by Wada Imam Bello)

Nigerian FELTP resident Wada Imam Bello (left) vaccinates a nomadic child during the CDC Polio Fulani Nomadic Mission carried out in Faskari Local Government Area (LGA), Katsina State, Nigeria in August 2012. Seated to Bello's left is the Chairman of the Faskari LGA.

(Photo submitted by Wada Imam Bello)

A Ghana FELTP resident inspects the finger marking of an eligible child to ensure that she has been vaccinated against polio in the Gbimgbani Sub-district of the East Mamprusi District, North East Region, Ghana in October 2019.

(Photo submitted by Ernestina Agbemafle)