POLIO [to 12 November 2016]
Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC)

.

Polio this week as of 9 November 2016
:: In Nigeria last week, experts from the Government and international partners convened an urgent meeting to assess the impact of regional emergency outbreak response conducted thus far in Nigeria and the Lake Chad Basin. The group looked at progress achieved in boosting immunity levels and strengthening surveillance, the effectiveness of cross-border collaboration and coordination with the broader humanitarian emergency response.

:: A risk analysis is being conducted for non-affected areas of Nigeria and neighbouring countries, to assess vulnerability of populations to polio spread, risk mitigation measures being implemented and outbreak readiness plans in the event of spread of the virus from Borno.

:: News this week: continuing our focus on innovative strategies to facilitate eradication, a closer look at new ways of delivering inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) which could help address global supply constraint.

Country Updates [Selected Excerpts]
Afghanistan
:: Three new wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases were reported in the past week, all from Bermal district, Paktika province, with onsets of paralysis on 1 September, 7 October and 12 October, bringing the total number of WPV1 cases for 2016 to 12…
Pakistan
:: One new case of wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) was reported in the past week with onset of paralysis on 3 September, from Kohistan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), in the north of the country. It brings the total number of WPV1 cases for 2016 to 16.
:: Three new WPV1 positive environmental samples were reported in the past week, from Balochistan (two from Quetta and one from Killa Abdullah, collected on 20 September, 14 October and 15 October). Continued detection of environmental positives throughout 2016 confirms that virus transmission remains geographically widespread across the country, despite strong improvements being achieved.
:: Efforts continue to further strengthen immunization and surveillance activities in all provinces, in close coordination with Afghanistan (see ‘Afghanistan’ section above, for more details).

.

WHO: Over 5.6 million children to be vaccinated against polio across Afghanistan
Kabul 7 November 2016 – The Ministry of Public Health along with its partners WHO and UNICEF launched a polio vaccination campaign today in all provinces of the southern, eastern and south-eastern regions as well as selected high-risk districts across the country, including Kabul city. The campaign aims to reach over 5.6 million children and will run until 11 November.

“Wherever children are not immunized, children’s lives are at risk everywhere in Afghanistan. We urge all caregivers to vaccinate their children against polio because the polio vaccine is the only way to protect children from permanent paralysis and even death,” said H.E. Minister of Public Health Dr Ferozuddin Feroz. “Afghanistan is closer than ever to stopping the circulation of the wild poliovirus and our focus remains on reaching and immunizing every single child.”…

The campaign is carried out by around 25,000 trained vaccinators and it runs for four days with an additional day on Friday for vaccinators to revisit children who were missed when the vaccinators first visited. These vaccinators and other frontline health workers are trusted members of the community and they have been chosen because they care about children. Parents who miss having their children vaccinated over the next four days are urged to visit local health centres where their children can be vaccinated against polio.

So far 12 wild poliovirus cases have been reported in 2016 from Kunar, Paktika, Helmand and Kandahar provinces. Afghanistan remains one of the 3 polio-endemic countries together with Pakistan and Nigeria.