On World Polio Day, Africa reports 134 new cases of polio, highlighting the ongoing challenges in the fight against the disease. Discover the latest efforts and strategies to combat polio across the continent.
As the world commemorates World Polio Day, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that Africa has reported 134 new polio cases across at least seven countries.
According to Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO’s regional director for Africa, polio type 2 has been detected in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, Mali, Niger and Nigeria.
According to a recent UNICEF analysis released on World Polio Day, in 2023, polio affected 541 children globally. Of these cases, 85 percent occurred in 31 countries classified as fragile, conflict-affected, and vulnerable.
Over the past five years, polio cases in these regions have more than doubled, while routine childhood immunization rates have fallen from 75 percent to 70 percent. This is considerably below the 95 percent threshold necessary for community immunity.
A global decline in childhood vaccination rates has led to an increase in polio outbreaks, including in countries that had been free of the disease for years.
This issue is especially acute in conflict-affected regions, with 15 out of 21 countries—such as Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, South Sudan, and Yemen—currently experiencing polio challenges.
UNICEF and its partners have recently intensified emergency efforts to tackle the rise in polio cases.
In Gaza, UNICEF partnered with WHO to successfully vaccinate nearly 600,000 children under the age of 10 as part of the first phase of a polio vaccination campaign in mid-September.
The second and final phase has been successfully implemented in southern and central Gaza. However, ongoing mass displacements and bombings have obstructed efforts in the northern region.
This campaign signifies the re-emergence of polio in Gaza after a 25-year hiatus.
In Sudan, the national childhood vaccination rate has significantly decreased from 85% before the conflict to only 53% in 2023. In areas affected by active conflict, coverage has fallen further to just 30%.
In response, UNICEF and its partners have organized two emergency polio vaccination campaigns in recent months, successfully reaching 2.9 million children under the age of five through their door-to-door initiatives.
Implementing effective polio vaccination programs in fragile, conflict-affected, and vulnerable areas is crucial for preventing additional cases and protecting children who are already at risk.
Humanitarian pauses are essential for enabling healthcare workers to safely reach children and provide vaccinations.
