Polio Eradication News
- Stakeholders Commit to A Renewed Strategic Framework on Polio Transition May 25, 2023In Somalia, integrated public health teams, built on the polio network, deliver a broad range of health services, despite challenges posed by ongoing polio outbreaks and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the Central African Republic, thanks to strong advocacy by the civil society, sustaining polio eradication remains on the health agenda. Meanwhile, India’s […]Gladys Kibui
- One world: coming together, to achieve one common goal May 25, 2023Global leaders and stakeholders have been unanimously declaring their solidarity to achieving a lasting world free of all forms of polioviruses. Convening this week at the World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland, Ministers of Health from around the globe evaluated the unique epidemiological opportunity which currently exists, in particular in eradicating all remaining chains of endemic wild […]Gladys Kibui
- Polio: As of today, the world’s only Public Health Emergency of International Concern May 22, 2023In May 2014, the WHO Director-General declared the international spread of poliovirus a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) under the International Health Regulations (IHR 2005), a designation that allows for accelerated response, emergency disbursement of funding and mitigation measures, such as vaccination of international travellers, to reduce the risk of spread of poliovirus. Nine years and several expert-led reviews later, polio retains […]Gladys Kibui
- GPEI’s 35th Anniversary May 18, 2023On 17 May, GPEI held a high-level influencer briefing with polio experts from around the world in which over 200 attendees from 63 countries took part. Watch the recording of the event.Gladys Kibui
- Containment Guidance Documents May 16, 2023WHO Global Action Plan and Containment Certification Scheme The WHO Global Action Plan for Poliovirus Containment, 4th edition, 2022 (GAPIV), formerly GAPIII, came into force on 1 July 2022 and is the chief guidance document for poliovirus containment. GAPIV was endorsed by the Poliovirus Containment Advisory Group in June 2022. The Poliovirus Containment Certification Scheme (CCS) […]Gladys Kibui
- Containment Strategy Documents May 16, 2023The GPEI Strategy for Global Poliovirus Containment defines high-level containment principles that must be carried forward by all containment stakeholders. It is intended to elaborate the polio containment principles outlined in the GPEI Polio Eradication Strategy 2022–2026. To support GPEI partners and Member States with commitments towards poliovirus containment, the Global Poliovirus Containment Action Plan 2022–2024 presents distinct goals […]Gladys Kibui
- G7 Heads of State and Health Ministers call for global support to achieving lasting polio-free world by 2026, ahead of WHA May 16, 2023Meeting in Japan this month, leaders of the G7 urged for global support to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI). In their official Communiqué issued at their Summit, G7 Health Ministers “recognize the value-added contribution of the global polio eradication infrastructure and workforce towards global surveillance capacity, national pandemic preparedness and response capacity, and the wider […]Gladys Kibui
- Women Health Workers Hold the Key to Eradicating Polio May 11, 2023ISLAMABAD – Anyone who witnesses a polio vaccination campaign in Pakistan will notice something remarkable: in most areas, the majority of health workers moving house to house to vaccinate children against this highly infectious paralytic disease are women. But despite their outsize role in providing life-saving vaccinations and other essential services to children in every […]Gladys Kibui
- 2023: A Critical Year for polio eradication efforts in northern Nigeria May 1, 2023A key priority in 2023 is to end both wild- and variant polio transmission around the world is focusing on the most consequential geographies where children are at the highest risk of encountering and spreading the virus, and which collectively accounted for 90% of all new polio cases worldwide in 2022. Northern Nigeria is one […]Gladys Kibui
- A working life well spent May 1, 2023When Dr Abdul Rahman Ghafoori began working with WHO’s polio eradication programme in the year 2000, polio was endemic in 30 countries across the world and WHO’s Afghanistan programme was tackling the virus on multiple fronts. “Surveillance for AFP [acute flaccid paralysis – a sign that poliovirus may be present] began in Afghanistan in 1997 so we were able to track the number of children under 15 years who were paralyzed by the virus. […]Gladys Kibui
- Eliminating a disease is rare: GPEI leadership on polio eradication in Pakistan April 24, 2023 Gladys Kibui
- Vaccines, vaccinators, and tally sheets April 24, 2023Islamabad – An announcement over a loudspeaker from the mosque captures the attention of parents and their children. The voice announces that a polio campaign is taking place in the settlement and vaccinators will be coming to give two drops to children under five. Eight teams of two vaccinators each are already on their way, […]Gladys Kibui
- Vaccination on wheels for nomadic children April 18, 2023Islamabad – As he rode his motorbike out of the relative safety of Bannu city on a September morning, Danyal Sikandri was nervous. It was his first day on a new assignment, and he was riding out into the district outskirts with colleague Yasir Shah in search of a reclusive group of people – nomads. […]Gladys Kibui
- After the Floods April 11, 2023FATEHPUR – In Fatehpur, any mention of the month of August is followed by the word ‘qayamat’. In Urdu, qayamat is used to express what the end of the world would look like. It could be a physical or metaphorical experience and is often used to describe a feeling, a feeling of utter devastation and […]Gladys Kibui
- A word from the Chair: 2023 – Aiming for Success through Ongoing Analysis of Global Effort March 31, 2023By Aidan O’Leary, Director for Polio Eradication, World Health Organization, and Chair of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative Strategy Committee 2023 is a critical year for the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI). It is the target year to interrupt all remaining wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) and circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2) transmission chains, […]Altanzul Sainjargal