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Polio Eradication Initiative

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  • Somalia’s health minister and partners plan to intensify efforts to end 7-year variant poliovirus outbreak
    16 April 2024
  • Sudan to respond to new emergence of variant poliovirus in Red Sea State
    11 March 2024
  • “I don’t want children to be affected by poliovirus like I was”
    05 March 2024
  • Polio immunization campaign to protect 1.3 million children in 12 governorates of Yemen
    25 February 2024
  • Polio outbreak in Yemen: situation update
    22 February 2024
  • Environmental surveillance network training: WHO Iraq and federal ministries collaborate to ensure a polio-free Iraq
    27 November 2023
  • Making strides for Somalia’s children: working to close the longest variant poliovirus outbreak in the Region
    18 July 2023
  • A working life well spent: 22 years as a polio eradicator in Afghanistan
    27 April 2023polio news
  • Sudan's response to the 2023 polio outbreak showcases coordination
    23 March 2023
  • Sudan launches nationwide polio vaccination campaign to protect children under 5
    18 March 2023
  • For Yemen’s children, the path to a polio diagnosis starts with a remarkable road trip
    02 March 2023
  • Syria takes steps to advance polio transition while strengthening essential health priorities
    25 January 2023Damascus, Syria – On 19 January, a team of technical polio professionals from the World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and the Ministry of Health of Syria concluded a 3-day joint mission on polio transition planning. The team conducted various meetings with national counterparts, United Nations agencies and other stakeholders to assess the current situation, identify the needs and resources, maintain polio-essential functions, and strengthen routine immunization to maintain Syria’s polio-free status. As part of the mission, the team agreed on the way forward to design a roadmap to support and sustain the ongoing integration of polio assets to ensure long-term benefits for immunization and emergency response.
  • In Afghanistan, communities keep an eye out for polio in one of the virus’s last frontiers
    02 January 2023When a mother brought her young son to a clinic in Paghman, a town not far from the Afghan capital Kabul, Spogmai, a nurse on duty at the time, paid special attention. “The mother was complaining that her son was weak and that the weakness had happened suddenly, so I examined his leg,” says Spogmai. “I saw that the limb was paralysed and immediately notified the clinic’s AFP focal point.”
  • Cross-border meeting in Sudan promises stronger coordination to prevent polio spread
    28 December 2022Like any other infectious or communicable diseases, polioviruses do not recognize international borders. They do, however, recognize and spread effortlessly among young children with low immunity. To prevent any spread of polioviruses in their region, from 21-22 December 2022, Sudan’s Federal Ministry of Health hosted neighbouring Chad and South Sudan for a 2-day meeting in the country’s capital, Khartoum. The WHO country office in Sudan organized the meeting, with support from the WHO offices in Chad and South Sudan, and brought together polio and immunization experts from the ministries of health and WHO offices of each country.
  • Press Release: Sudan launches a catch-up campaign against polio and yellow fever
    28 December 2022KHARTOUM, 28 December 2022 – Tomorrow the Federal Ministry of Health in Sudan, in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) will launch a catch-up vaccination campaign to vaccinate children against polio and yellow fever from 29 December 2022 to 3 January 2023.
  • Afghanistan vaccinates 5.36 million children against measles and 6.1 million children against polio in a nationwide campaign
    22 December 2022Kabul — Afghanistan has vaccinated 5.36 million Afghan children 9–59 months against measles while 6.1 million children 0-59 months received oral polio vaccine in a nationwide vaccination campaign held from 26 November to 12 December 2022.
  • Polio surveillance review yields results in Afghanistan
    19 December 2022Recommendations from the international review of Afghanistan’s poliovirus surveillance system are yielding important results for the country’s eradication programme. The review team, comprising experts including virologists and epidemiologists, visited Afghanistan in June, conducting a comprehensive nationwide assessment of the country’s polio surveillance system.
  • WHO supports nationwide integrated immunization campaign in the midst of drought: 2.61 million children vaccinated against measles and polio
    07 December 2022A complex humanitarian crisis caused by conflict, protracted drought and emanating displacements of populations in Somalia has put more than 3.6 million under-5 years children at risk as their immunity is running dangerously low and vulnerabilities are on the rise with each passing day. World Health Organization (WHO), in collaboration with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), has helped the Federal and State Ministries of Health to immunize all eligible children under 5 in 2022 to protect them from vaccine-preventable diseases like measles and polio. Since January 2022, WHO has helped the ministries of health to conduct one integrated nationwide campaign (November 2022), 2 nationwide polio campaigns (February, October 2022) in addition to conducting one targeted measles and 3 polio campaigns across high-risk districts in vulnerable states.
  • Pakistan maintaining momentum to end polio, says global delegation
    04 December 2022There is unprecedented support and commitment to ending polio in Pakistan by 2023, and with the current momentum maintained, the country will be able to interrupt transmission in the coming year, a high-level global delegation on polio concluded at the end of its visit to the country on Thursday. The delegation was led by Chair of the Polio Oversight Board Dr Chris Elias, WHO Regional Director Dr Ahmed Al-Mandhari and UNICEF Regional Director George Laryea-Adjei. “The last steps to ending polio are the toughest but eradication is within reach thanks to the hard work happening in Pakistan,” Dr Elias said.
  • WHO and Ministry of Health ramp up efforts to keep Iraq polio-free
    24 October 2022The World Health Organization (WHO), in cooperation with the Ministry of Health, increased efforts to enhance polio eradication activities to protect children and maintain the polio-free status in Iraq. Iraq has been certified polio-free since 2017 but is still vulnerable and at high risk of poliovirus importation/ emergence. Iraq is also a destination for frequent mass gathering events, receiving visitors from other countries, including polio-endemic Afghanistan and Pakistan and other countries experiencing circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus outbreaks.
  • World Polio Day 2022 and beyond: a healthier future for mothers and children in Somalia
    23 October 2022Living by its principle of ‘delivering on a promise’, WHO and the Government of Somalia are commemorating the World Polio Day by launching fifth round of this year’s sub-national vaccination campaign across high-risk areas to keep the country free from wild polio virus and ensure every child in this country lives a healthier life.
  • WHO supports national polio, measles, and rubella vaccination campaign in Syria
    12 October 2022With support from WHO, UNICEF and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the Ministry of Health in Syria has launched a polio, measles and rubella vaccination campaign across the country. The 10-day campaign, which began on 9 October 2022, aims to vaccinate 2.4 million children under the age of 5 in all Syrian governates, regardless of their vaccination status, with a special focus on camps and informal settlements.
  • Afghanistan completes largest ever review of polio surveillance system
    20 September 202220 September 2022 – For the last 2 decades, the prospect of sending 16 visiting polio experts out across the provinces of Afghanistan would have been impossible but from 6 to 19 June 2022, WHO Afghanistan’s polio eradication programme did just that.
  • Polio outbreak in Sudan successfully stopped and declared closed
    18 September 2022Sudan’s outbreak of circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2) has been successfully stopped, according to experts from WHO, UNICEF and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Declared in 15 out of 18 states, the outbreak was caused by a circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus (cVDPV2) strain imported from Chad, paralyzing 58 children. Today’s announcement comes after virtual and in-country reviews of Sudan’s response to the outbreak and its surveillance system by a team of experts in polio eradication, global public health, epidemiology, and vaccine management. The final Outbreak Response Assessment, held between 24 July and 1 August 2022, included interviews and reviews of reports and records with surveillance and immunization staff at state, locality, and health facility levels. The findings of the Outbreak Response Assessment, coupled with the absence of the cVDPV2 virus for more than 18 months in the presence of sustained high-quality poliovirus surveillance, make it possible to conclude that the cVDPV2 outbreak can now be declared closed.
  • Diary of a polio surveillance reviewer: 8 days in Afghanistan’s west
    21 August 202221 August 2022 – In June 2022, a team of technical experts including epidemiologists and virologists travelled to Afghanistan to review the country’s polio surveillance system, visiting 67 districts in 25 of the country’s 34 provinces.
  • Afghanistan makes progress toward polio eradication but challenges remain
    15 August 202215 August 2022 – One year on from Afghanistan’s transition of power in August 2021, the polio eradication programme in Afghanistan has made critical gains – but the job is far from finished.
  • WHO’s polio team responds to devastating earthquake in Afghanistan
    05 July 20225 July 2022 – When disaster strikes, coordination is key. Within hours of the 5.9 magnitude earthquake striking the communities of Afghanistan’s South East in the early morning of 22 June, WHO’s polio team was on the ground joining forces with UN agencies and NGOs to ensure an effective and coordinated relief effort.
  • Seven people you meet during a polio campaign
    28 June 2022Between Saturday 18 June and Wednesday 23 June, health workers across Bethlehem and Jerusalem governorates, supported by WHO, UNICEF and UNRWA, gave an extra dose of polio protection to children under five during round two of the polio vaccination campaign. Palestine has been polio-free for more than 25 years, but the regional risk of poliovirus is increasing. Following the detection of circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 3 (cVDPV3) in sewage outflow in Wadi Alnar site, where there is a junction between wastewater coming from inside the green line with wastewater coming from Bethlehem and Jerusalem, the Ministry of Health launched a preventative vaccination campaign to boost children’s immunity in those governorates.
  • Ending polio in Somalia: children vaccinated in national immunization day
    07 June 2022On 6 June 2022, the WHO Representative in Somalia Dr Mamunur Rahman Malik was joined by the UNICEF Country Representative Ms Angela Kearney, the Governor and Mayor of Mogadishu HE Omar Mohamed Mohamud Flish and Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary General and the United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia Mr Adam Abdelmoula to officially launch the national immunization day for polio in Somalia. They visited a camp for internally displaced persons in Manahijta and Waberi health centre in Banadir city, to officially launch the national immunization day and vaccinate children against polio.
  • First polio vaccination campaign for 2022 under way
    17 January 2022Kabul, 17 January 2022 – The first national polio immunization campaign for 2022 begins this week, 17-20 January 2022, targeting 9.9 million children aged 0–59 months across the country.
  • December polio vaccination campaign begins
    13 December 2021KABUL, 13 December 2021 - The fourth round of a national polio immunization campaign begins this week (13–16 December 2021), and will be synchronized with Pakistan to improve cross-border polio eradication efforts. The campaign targets 9.9 million children aged 0–59 months across the country and is scheduled to start later this month in some parts of the country, including in the south and east, and in the provinces of Paktia and Ghazni in the south-east, Ghor in the west, and Balkh in the north.