The Africa Regional Certification Commission has declared the continent free from polio.
The certification document was signed by sixteen members of the ARCC of Poliomyelitis Eradication.
This followed the successful completion of wild polio vaccination in Nigeria, which is the last polio stronghold in Africa.
Less than ten years ago, Nigeria had accounted for more than half of all global cases of wild polio.
Meanwhile; Africa is still not free from vaccine-derived polio virus remains, with one hundred and seventy-seven cases identified this year.
The World Health Organization identified a number of such cases in Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Central African Republic and Angola.
Nigeria’s President MUHAMMADU BUHARI has described the eradication of polio in Africa as a historic moment for the continent.
President BUHARI recalled that he made a promise in 2015 that he would not pass the polio virus to his successor.