POLIO [to 4 April 2015]
Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC)

GPEI Update: Polio this week – As of 1 April 2015
Global Polio Eradication Initiative
[Editor’s Excerpt and text bolding]
Full report: http://www.polioeradication.org/Dataandmonitoring/Poliothisweek.aspx
:: Every day health workers around the world do heroic work on the frontlines to engage parents and provide children with polio vaccines. Read more about health workers in Pakistan.
:: April marks 60 years since Jonas Salk’s inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) was launched, enabling children to be protected against polio for the first time. Read more.
:: National Immunization Days are planned in Madagascar on 27 April to 1 May.
:: The GPEI is currently accepting applications from students and recent graduates interested in summer 2015 internships at the World Health Organization. More information is available here.

[Selected country-level report content]
Pakistan
:: Efforts are ongoing to strengthen the implementation of the ‘low season’ emergency operations plan.
:: Strong, functional Emergency Operations Centres (EOCs) are now operational both at the federal and provincial levels.
:: Strategies are focusing on clearly identifying reasons for missed children, and putting in place area-specific mechanisms to overcome area-specific challenges.
:: Independent monitoring is being strengthened and rolled out across wider geographic areas to provide a clearer assessment of quality and associated gaps.
:: Activities are focusing on known infected areas, but also areas deemed at high-risk but which have not reported polio cases. Environmental surveillance indicates widespread transmission of the virus, not just in known infected areas but also in areas without cases. Environmental surveillance is proving to be an instrumental supplemental surveillance tool enabling a clearer epidemiological picture.