Six countries reported more polio cases this week, including Afghanistan and Pakistan with more wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases, according to the latest weekly update from the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI).
Afghanistan reported 2 new WPV1 cases, 1 in Kandahar and the other in Hilmand, putting its total at 11 for the year. Pakistan reported 3 more cases, 2 in Balochistan and 1 in Punjab, boosting its number to 12 for 2024. Both countries have already doubled the number of cases they reported in 2023.
Elsewhere, four African countries reported cases involving circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2). The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) reported 2 cases, both in Maindombe. Ethiopia reported a case in Gambella, boosting its total to 12 for the year. Nigeria also reported 1 more case, in Jigawa, lifting its total to 38. South Sudan reported 1 case in Upper Nile, making 7 infections for 2024.Â
WHO preparing polio vaccine campaign for Gaza
At a World Health Organization (WHO) briefing this week, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, PhD, said that, following the detection of polio in wastewater samples from Gaza, the WHO is preparing polio vaccination campaigns and is sending more than 1 million doses to be administer in the weeks ahead.
He said the group is mourning the sudden death of Aidan O’Leary, who was director of the WHO’s Polio Eradication Program. Tedros said that, before O’Leary died while on vacation with his family, he was working on a plan for two rounds of polio vaccination in Gaza targeting 600,000 children younger than 8 years old.
“We need absolute freedom of movement for health workers and medical equipment to carry out these complex operations safely and effectively,” Tedros said. “A ceasefire, or at least ‘days of tranquility’ during preparation and delivery of the vaccination campaigns are required to protect children in Gaza from polio.”
