Polio this week as of 15 June 2021
- The GPEI is deeply saddened by the reportsof attacks on health workers in Afghanistan. We wish to extend our deepest condolences to the families, relatives and colleagues of the victims. These incidents are a somber reminder of the difficult and often dangerous environments health workers operate in. Health workers must never be a target and any attack on health care providers remains completely unacceptable. All parties must respect and uphold the neutrality of health interventions and ensure the safety of all health workers, who are working across the country to prevent disease and improve the health of communities.
- Delivering on the Promise of a Polio-free World: the new Polio Eradication Strategic Plan 2022-2026, was launched at a virtual event on 10 June 2021. The Strategic Plan has been developed in close consultation across the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) stakeholdership and lays out the roadmap to securing a lasting polio-free world. Key to success will be the ongoing commitment of all partners around the world, to ensure the Plan can be fully implemented. The launch event brought together senior leadership of the Governments of Pakistan, Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo as well as the core partners of the GPEI.
- The Heads of State of the G7 countries, at the annual meeting held in the UK on 11-13 June 2021, in their official communiqué, highlighted the need for increased global efforts to detect global public health threats, by building international surveillance on existing networks such as polio surveillance.
- Philippines outbreak officially closed: with no new virus detected in the Philippines in more than 16 months as a result of comprehensive outbreak response, the outbreak has officially been closed. The Global Polio Eradication Initiative commendthe Department of Health, government agencies, partners and civil society efforts that ended the polio outbreak in the country.
- Summary of new WPV and cVDPV viruses this week (AFP cases and ES positives):
- Afghanistan: one cVDPV2 case
- Burkina Faso: two cVDPV2 cases
- Benin: one cVDPV2 case
- Congo: one cVDPV2 positive environmental sample
- Côte d’Ivoire: one cVDPV2 positive environmental sample
- DR Congo: one cVDPV2 case
- Ethiopia: six cVDPV2 cases
- Niger: one cVDPV2 case and one cVDPV2 positive environmental sample
- Senegal: five cVDPV2 cases
Source: Global Polio Eradication Initiative