POLIO [to 2 January 2016]
Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC)

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GPEI Update: Polio this week as of 30 December 2015
http://www.polioeradication.org/Dataandmonitoring/Poliothisweek.aspx
:: Looking back at 2015, the programme has seen remarkable steps forward towards polio eradication. A wrap-up of the year shows fewer cases in fewer places than ever before. The report on the status of polio eradication to WHO’s Executive Board also summarizes the progress on the Polio Endgame Plan, and on Resolution WHA68.3, adopted by the World Health Assembly (WHA) in May 2015. The year to come will need strengthened momentum to build on these gains and deliver a polio-free world.
:: There are four months to go until the globally synchronized switch from the trivalent to bivalent oral polio vaccine. This will be an important milestone in achieving a polio-free world. Read more
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[No new cases identified in Country-level reports in this week’s Update]

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Circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus – Myanmar
WHO – Disease outbreak news
21 December 2015
The National IHR Focal Point of Myanmar has notified WHO of 2 cases of circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2)….

National vaccination coverage is estimated to be 76% (WHO/UNICEF estimates, 2014). Vaccination coverage is lower among special risk populations. National surveillance indicator rates in Myanmar are good (2015 non-polio AFP rate: 1.8; 93% adequate stool collection percentage); however, subnational gaps persist…

Considering the globally synchronized withdrawal of type 2 OPV in April 2016 (through the switch from tOPV to bivalent OPV – bOPV), efforts are underway to ensure that transmission of any cVDPV2 is interrupted ahead of that date. Myanmar has developed a national switch plan which was endorsed by the Ministry of Health. The plan is to move from tOPV to bOPV on 29 April. Inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) was launched throughout the country on 3 December…

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Afghanistan polio worker killed by gunmen
Reuters (12/28) KANDAHAR, Afghanistan
Two gunmen on a motorbike shot and killed a female polio vaccination campaigner in Afghanistan on Monday and seriously wounded her granddaughter, officials said.

No group claimed responsibility for the attack but Islamists in some parts of the world believe campaigns against the crippling disease are a plot against Muslims or an attempt to spy on militants.

The pair, a woman and her teenaged granddaughter, were eradication-campaign volunteers, going house to house in the southern city of Kandahar when they were shot, said senior provincial health official Abdul Qayum Pukhla.

“Today was the last day of campaign and as the workers were leaving a house, the gunmen opened fire on them and fled,” Pukhla told Reuters…