No new Wild Polio case was reported this week.

What is that Polio Picture?  Dr. Ahmed Al-Mandhari, is the WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean – offered this statement about the vaccinator attacks in Afghanistan.

24 February 2022, Cairo, Egypt – I am shocked and deeply outraged by the killing of 8 polio health workers, 4 of them women, in Afghanistan today. I extend my deepest condolences to the families, friends, and colleagues of those who have lost their lives.

As a result of these attacks, the national polio vaccination campaign, which began on 21 February 2022, has been suspended in Kunduz and Takhar provinces. This suspension leaves thousands of children unprotected and exposed to a life-threatening disease that can result in permanent paralysis. 

These senseless attacks must stop. They are unacceptable on a humane level and [a] humanitarian level and are strictly forbidden in all faiths.  These cowardly acts ultimately only harm innocent children who must be given every opportunity to live safe and healthy lives.

WHO condemns all attacks on health workers in the strongest terms and appeals to the Taliban Authorities to immediately identify and bring the perpetrators to justice.

The polio program supported by WHO, UNICEF, and other partners has made extensive progress in controlling the transmission of wild poliovirus in Afghanistan, contributing to the global eradication of the disease. In 2021, Afghanistan reported 4 cases of wild poliovirus, and only one case has been reported to date in 2022.

This month’s campaign was planned to target nearly 10 million children aged 0–59 months across the country. In addition to this round, 4 more campaigns are planned for 2022. The polio program requires everyone’s support to ensure they are implemented without any risk to health workers, or the people they serve.

WHO, together with national and international partners, remains committed to our polio eradication efforts in Afghanistan.

 Ukraine

Amid the escalating crisis in Ukraine, the GPEI has expressed extreme concern about the unfolding effects of the conflict on the country’s health system as security and displacement increase risk of diseases such as polio.

 A Win Against Polio is a Win for Global Health!

2022 Circulating Vaccine Derived Polio Case Total – 4  DR Congo – 1 (26 in 2021), Madagascar – 1 (12 in 2021), Nigeria – 1 (415 in 2021), Somalia – 1 (1 in 2021).

2021 Circulating Vaccine Derived Polio Cases – 636 – Afghanistan – 43 (308 in 2020), Angola – 0 (3 in 2020),Benin – 2 (3 in 2020), Burkina Faso – 1 (65 in 2020), Cameroon – 3 (7 in 2020), CAR – 0 (4 in 2020), Chad – 0 (99 in 2020), Congo – 2 (2 in 2020), Cote d’ Ivoire – 0 (64 in 2020), DR Congo – 26 (81 in 2020), Ethiopia – 10 (36 in 2020), Ghana – 0 (11 in 2020), Guinea – 6 (44 in 2020), Guinea Bissau – 3 (0 on 2020), Liberia – 3 (0 in 2020),Madagascar – 13 (2 in 2020), Mali – 0 (52 in 2020), Malaysia – 0 (1 in 2020), Mozambique – 2, Niger – 15 (10 in 2020), Nigeria – 415 (8 in 2020), Pakistan – 8 (135 in 2020), Philippines – 0 (1 in 2020), Senegal  – 17 (0 in 2020) ,Sierra Leone – 5 (10 in 2020), Somalia – 1 (14 in 2020), South Sudan – 9 (50 in 2020), Sudan – 0 (58 in 2020), Tajikistan – 32 (1 in 2020), Togo – 0 (9 in 2020), Ukraine – 2 (0 in 2020), and Yemen – 13 (33 in 2020).

New This Week – Madagascar – 1 (2021) cVDPV2 Case, Nigeria – 2 cVDPV2 Samples.

A total of 1,110 Vaccine Derived Polio cases were reported in 26 countries in 2020.

Quote of the Day

“The world is getting to be such a dangerous place, a man is lucky to get out of it alive.”

— W.C. Fields

The Final Two Polio Endemic Countries:

0 new Polio cases reported this week.
1 Wild Polio case – 2022, (4 Wild Polio cases, 2021). The most recent cases had an onset of paralysis on 1/11/22.
56 Wild Polio cases – 2020.  No WPV1 & CVDPV2-Positive Environmental Sample were reported this week in Afghanistan.

Our Goal is Global Polio Eradication!!

Terry Ziegler, Endowment/Major Gifts Adviser Rotary Region 36