As the world commemorates World Polio Day, Africa has reported 134 new polio cases across at least seven countries, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO’s regional director for Africa, announced that the circulating variant of polio type 2 has been identified in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, Mali, Niger, and Nigeria.
In 2023, UNICEF reported that 541 children globally were impacted by polio, with 85 percent of cases occurring in 31 fragile and conflict-affected countries. Over the last five years, polio cases in these regions have more than doubled, and routine childhood immunization rates have declined from 75 percent to 70 percent, well below the 95 percent threshold necessary for community immunity.
The decline in childhood vaccination rates worldwide has led to an increase in polio outbreaks, even in nations that had previously eradicated the disease. This issue is particularly severe in conflict-affected areas, with 15 out of 21 such countries, including Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, South Sudan, and Yemen, currently facing challenges related to polio.
In response to the rising number of cases, UNICEF and its partners have intensified emergency measures. In Gaza, UNICEF, in collaboration with WHO, successfully vaccinated nearly 600,000 children under the age of 10 during the first phase of a polio vaccination campaign in mid-September. While the second phase has been completed in southern and central Gaza, ongoing violence and mass displacements have hindered efforts in the northern region. This campaign signifies the return of polio to Gaza after a 25-year absence.
In Sudan, the national childhood vaccination rate has fallen from 85 percent before the conflict to just 53 percent in 2023, with some active conflict zones experiencing coverage as low as 30 percent. To combat this, UNICEF and its partners have conducted two emergency vaccination campaigns in recent months, reaching 2.9 million children under five through door-to-door initiatives.
Health officials stress that effective polio vaccination efforts in fragile and conflict-affected regions are critical for preventing further cases and protecting vulnerable children. Humanitarian pauses are deemed essential to allow healthcare workers safe access to children for vaccination.
