THIS WEEK
Polio this week as of 24 April 2018

New on www.polioeradication.org: For World Immunization Week, we found out
about a typical week in the life of a vaccine facilitator in Nigeria, and heard about
the opportunities that the polio programme is opening up for women and their
communities.

In January, children in Raqqa city, Syria, received polio vaccines for the first time
in two years as families return to their homes.

The GPEI Post-Certification Strategy (PCS), which is aimed at ensuring the
availability of core functions to sustain a polio-free world after global certification
(such as outbreak response capacity, surveillance, immunization and
containment), is now available to read on our website. The PCS will be
presented to Member States at the World Health Assembly (WHA) in May.

Recommendations and meeting outcomes from the recent Strategic Advisory
Group of Experts on immunization (SAGE) meeting are now published. Among
other things, the group reviewed and endorsed the main elements of the PCS,
and reviewed proposed recommendations relating to global containment and
immunization policies for countries hosting polio essential facilities (PEFs).
The Polio Oversight Board has released a statement welcoming and actively
supporting steps being taken by the international community to prevent and stop
sexual misconduct. The full statement may be read here.

Summary of newly-reported viruses this week: Pakistan: One new wild poliovirus
type 1 (WPV1) positive environmental sample has been reported, in Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa province. The Democratic Republic of the Congo: One case of
circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2) reported, from Haut
Katanga province. Nigeria: Circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2
(cVDPV2) has been confirmed, following isolation of the virus from three
environmental samples collected between 10 January and 20 March, from two
environmental sites in Jigawa state. Somalia: Circulating vaccine-derived
poliovirus type 3 (cVDPV3) has been confirmed, following isolation of the virus
from four environmental samples collected between 8-22 March, from two
environmental sites in Banadir province.

Weekly country updates as of 24 April 2018

• Donate