28 May 2025, Brazzaville/Amman/Geneva – For nearly a decade, the Horn of Africa has battled persistent outbreaks of variant poliovirus. The spread has been fueled by low immunity in children, unmonitored population movements, lack of access to children living in insecure areas, variable levels of national ownership of polio eradication efforts across countries,...

Statement by the Eastern Mediterranean Ministerial Regional Subcommittee on Polio Eradication and Outbreaks Delivering on a promise: achieving and sustaining a polio-free Eastern Mediterranean Region Fifth Meeting of the Regional Subcommittee on Polio Eradication and Outbreaks 14 June 2022 Noting the progress achieved globally in eradicating wild...

13 May – Ramallah - On Monday 16 May, the Palestinian Ministry of Health will launch round one of a polio vaccination campaign targeting all children under age five in Bethlehem and Jerusalem. The vaccination campaign is scheduled to run over three days: Monday 16 May through Wednesday 18 May 2022. Vaccination, using bivalent oral polio vaccine...

Plus de 150 000 enfants de moins de cinq ans à Djibouti devraient recevoir une deuxième dose de vaccin contre la poliomyélite à la suite de la première dose administrée au cours de la 1ère phase de la campagne en février 2022. Djibouti – 27 mars 2022 – La deuxième phase de la campagne nationale de vaccination contre la poliomyélite, menée par le...

Djibouti, 27 février 2022 - Son Excellence, Monsieur le Ministre de la Santé, Dr Ahmed Robleh Abdilleh, avec le soutien technique de l’OMS et de l’UNICEF, a lancé ce vendredi 25 février, une campagne nationale de vaccination contre la poliomyélite, d’une durée de cinq jours qui débutera le 27 février 2022, visant à atteindre tous les enfants âgés de zéro à 59 mois...

As we begin 2022, we have our best opportunity to end polio for good Statement by George Laryea-Adjei and Dr Ahmed Al-Mandhari In June last year, we visited Pakistan, one of two countries in which wild poliovirus is still endemic. Together, we returned to the country in November to witness the impressive progress in Pakistan’s polio programme and...

KABUL, 13 December 2021 - The fourth round of a national polio immunization campaign begins this week (13–16 December 2021), and will be synchronized with Pakistan to improve cross-border polio eradication efforts. The campaign targets 9.9 million children aged 0–59 months across the country and is scheduled to start later this month in some...

WHO Regional Director, Dr Ahmed Al-Mandhari, observes polio vaccination in Karachi UNICEF and WHO Regional Directors visit the polio-endemic country as efforts to eradicate polio yield crucial progress ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, 13 December 2021 – UNICEF Regional Director for South Asia, Mr George Laryea-Adjei, and WHO Regional Director for the Eastern...

Rolling out this powerful supplementary surveillance tool to more of the country has enhanced capacity in Sudan to detect and respond to poliovirus. 30 November 2021 – Until last year, environmental surveillance for polioviruses in Sudan was confined to Khartoum State, the country’s capital. In the context of a circulating vaccine-derived...

“The World Health Organization has zero tolerance for sexual exploitation and abuse and takes all allegations of misconduct seriously at all levels of our workforce. I appreciate the swift response by the National Emergency Operations Centre in Pakistan to allegations of harassment of a polio frontline worker.    WHO has an uncompromising commitment to...