POLIO [to 29 August 2015]
Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC)

GPEI Update: Polio this week – As of 26 August 2015
Global Polio Eradication Initiative
[Editor’s Excerpt and text bolding]
Full report: http://www.polioeradication.org/Dataandmonitoring/Poliothisweek.aspx
:: The Expert Review Committee met in Nigeria last week to review the progress made in Nigeria, identify ways to strengthen the gains of the last few years and identify the major risks to stopping polio across the country. More
:: A project to improve access to hard-to-reach (HTR) populations in Nigeria with polio vaccines is having a dramatic impact on the broader health needs of remote communities, demonstrating the legacy of polio eradication in action. More
:: Through a series of photographs, meet religious leaders, health care workers, volunteers, vaccinators, programme monitors and parents as they play their unique roles in protecting children across Afghanistan from polio.

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Selected excerpts from Country-specific Reports
Afghanistan
:: One new wild poliovirus type one (WPV1) case was confirmed this week in Achin district of Nangarhar. This most recent case, which was the second WPV1 case in the district this year, had onset of paralysis on 1 August. The total number of WPV1 cases for 2015 is now eight.
:: Intensive and strengthened supplementary immunization activities are planned in the coming months. Subnational Immunization Days (SNIDs) will take place across the south and east of the country on 20 – 22 September using bivalent OPV and National Immunization Days (NIDs) will take place on 18 – 20 October using trivalent OPV.

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Pakistan second endemic country to introduce IPV into routine immunization schedule
Islamabad, 24 August 2015 — Pakistan has taken another step towards a polio-free future on Thursday, introducing IPV into its routine immunization schedule at a ceremony presided over by the Minister of State, Ministry of National Health Services Regulation and Coordination, Mrs Saira Afzal Tarar, and attended by representatives of WHO, UNICEF, GAVI and other development partners, such as USAID and the UK Department for International Development, in the capital, Islamabad.

The introduction of the inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) across Pakistan will benefit more than 6 million children per year, and will be administered to children alongside other life-saving vaccines.

Pakistan is one of 3 countries in the world where polio remains endemic. Nigeria, which recently marked one year without a case of wild polio, introduced the vaccine earlier this year and Afghanistan is due to begin using IPV in the coming weeks.

Pakistan’s national introduction of IPV marks the fulfilment of the global commitment to meet one of the 4 major objectives of the Polio Endgame Strategy that calls on all oral polio vaccine (OPV)-only using countries to introduce at least one dose of IPV into routine immunization schedules by the end of 2015, strengthen routine immunization and withdraw OPV in a phased manner, starting with type 2-containing OPV.

The worldwide roll-out of IPV across 126 countries by the end of 2015 is part of the largest and fastest globally coordinated vaccine introduction project in history. The initiative is funded as part of the budget of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), and support is channelled through GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, WHO and UNICEF…