A child gets the polio vaccine during the National Immunization Days in Kano. A new horizon is looming in the African country.Nigeria has given a firm step to be considered a free polio country, at the expense of the three years marked by the international community to make of these encouraging data a reality.Kano, Nigeria 2014. Diego Ibarra Sánchez
Vaccine carrier box for carrying and storing sensitive vaccines of polio. Polio, has paralyzed millions of children. “The battle of polio†has seen a 99 per cent reduction since the Global Polio Eradication Initiative began in 1988. Kano, Northern Nigeria. March 2014. Diego Ibarra Sánchez
A volunteer member of the vaccination team walks through the market with megaphones announcing the availability of vaccines. They can vaccinate children right on the spot if the parent agrees. Kano, Nigeria. March 2014. Diego Ibarra Sánchez
A nigerian family waits for the polio vaccinator team in Kano. Nigeria 2014. Nigeria is the last country in Africa to have witnessed a case of polio - in Borno state, in the north-east. Outside of Nigeria, the last case on the continent was in the Puntland region of Somalia, in 2014. Diego Ibarra Sánchez
Polio health workers marks the gates of the houses to identify the ones remaining as several kids are not at home during the campaign. For every person paralyzed or killed by polio, however, another 99 are infected who have only mild or no symptoms but can spread polio to others. Kano, Nigeria, March 2014. Diego Ibarra Sánchez
Polio health workers marks the gates of the houses to identify the ones remaining as several kids are not at home during the campaign. As long as a single child remains infected, children in all countries are at risk of contracting polio. Kano, Nigeria 2014. Diego Ibarra Sánchez
Rotary field coordinators are helping close immunization gaps in northern Nigeria by gaining public support from government and community leaders through providing technical support and monitoring the quality of vaccination teams.The Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), of which Rotary is a spearheading partner, funds 91 percent of all immunization staff in the World Health Organization’s Africa region. These staff members are key figures in the fight against polio. Kano, Nigeria 2014. Diego Ibarra Sánchez
Nigerian students.Insecurity in the north-east of Nigeria had hindered the polio vaccination programme, but success in fighting the Boko Haram militant group has been cited as one of the reasons behind getting polio under control. Kano, Nigeria 2014. Diego Ibarra Sánchez
A health worker is seen inside a hospital in Maiduguri. Nigeria 2014. After ten years of conflict with Boko Haram in the northeast, Nigeria continues to contend with violence from the insurgency group and its breakout factions, as well as violent banditry, kidnappings, and killings by armed groups in other parts of the country. Diego Ibarra Sánchez
A child gets the polio vaccine during the National Immunization Days in Maiduguri. In Nigeria, the vast majority of vaccinators are women. That’s crucial to ensuring that vaccines reach every child, because men — with the exception of husbands and close male family members — are prevented from entering households. This rule is strictly enforced in the northern and middle belt regions of Nigeria, where Islam predominates. Maiduguri, Nigeria 2014. Diego Ibarra Sánchez
To eliminate polio, women — mostly young mothers — have gone door-to-door, slipping drops of polio vaccine under the tongues of as many as 30 million Nigerian children. Kano, Nigeria 2014. Diego Ibarra Sánchez
A vaccinator looks for children that were missed during the mop up phase of a polio immunization drive in Maiduguri, Nigeria 2014. Diego Ibarra Sánchez
The legs of Usman, a polio survivor who works in a wheelchair workshop in Kano, Nigeria. Africa must go two more years without reports of the disease before the W.H.O. declares the continent polio-free. Diego Ibarra Sánchez
Abbas Ibrahim, 48 years old, poses at the Health center attacked on 2013 by Boko Haram. He survived and he was witness of this brutal incident. Nine polio immunization workers were shot on February 8 in 2013. Some Nigerian Muslim leaders have previously opposed polio vaccinations, claiming they could cause infertility. Kano, Nigeria 2014. Diego Ibarra Sánchez
Relatives of a dead vaccinator killed by Boko Haram visit his tomb. Kano, Nigeria 2014.Boko Haram tried to stop Nigeria from eliminating polio. They failed. Inaccessible areas occupied by the ISIS-linked sect, have prevented the vaccination of as many as 66,000 children in the northern state of Borno. Diego Ibarra Sánchez
Detail of one health center attacked on February 8 by Boko Haram in 2013 in Kano. Nine polio immunization workers were shot on February 8 in 2013. Northern Nigeria became a polio hot spot in 2003 when waves of rumors began spreading about the vaccine: that it sterilized Muslim girls, that it contained pork products and that it contained the virus that causes AIDS. The governor of Kano, a northwestern state, stopped vaccinations for a year, and a local polio strain spread, first to 10 other African countries and then, through pilgrims, to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, and to Yemen and Indonesia. Kano, Nigeria 2014. Diego Ibarra Sánchez
A polio survivor. Polio is no longer endemic in Nigeria. Kano, Nigeria 2014. Diego Ibarra Sánchez
A girl gets vaccinated during during the national immunization days in Kano. Nigeria is on the brink of eliminating polio, thanks to women. Nigeria 2014