Many people were bitterly disappointed when four cases of wild polio were discovered in August 2016 in insecure areas of Borno State in the northeast of Nigeria. Nigeria had gone for almost two years without any cases of wild polio being detected, and was just a year away from being able to declare polio eradicated. (Wild polio is the type of the virus found in nature, as opposed to in a vaccine.) The government’s response to the new cases was rapid, relentless, and effective. It made dramatic progress in controlling the outbreak, with support from the World Bank and other partners. There have been no wild polio cases since.

These efforts against polio are impressive given the fact that they were actively resisted by Boko Haram insurgents. In the past, Boko Haram has targeted vaccinators, killing nine of them in 2009 and three more in 2012. It has warned members of the population against accepting vaccination against polio... — blog.wb.org/blogs