The African Regional Certification Commission for the Eradication of Polio (ARCC) has advised Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe, together with health partners, to “urgently address” gaps in polio immunity to prevent outbreaks.
The recommendation, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), followed “a week of intense discussions between partners, countries and ARCC members”, which took place in Maputo from 31 October to 3 November, on the response to the ongoing polio outbreaks in the region.
“Participants agreed that by 2024 it will be essential to increase the scale and number of vaccination rounds in the African region in order to rebuild immunity and end all types of polio in Africa,” explained the WHO.
According to ARCC president Rose Leke, more than 300 cases of polio have already been confirmed in the African region and almost 250 detections in wastewater samples, so she insisted on the need to “intensify efforts regarding the implementation of quality and timely supplementary vaccination”, as well as “surveillance, to increase the population’s immunity and ensure early detection of any circulating viruses”.
The ARCC also noted, in the final statement, “the great progress made” by Mozambique, “along with neighbours Zimbabwe, Malawi, Tanzania and Zambia in their response to the detections of wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) in Lilongwe (Malawi) and Tete (Mozambique)”.
“No new cases have been reported for over a year, as the last WPV1 case was confirmed in August 2022. The ARCC encouraged countries to remain vigilant, strengthen surveillance and ensure that wild polio does not find a home in Africa,” the organisation added.
The ARCC is an independent body set up in 1998 to oversee the African region’s certified status as free of indigenous wild poliovirus.
The ARCC meets twice a year to analyse the progress made in the annual certification updates of selected countries on polio eradication activities in all 47 member states of the WHO African Region.
Mozambique has not registered any new cases of polio for seven months, the National Directorate of Public Health announced on 13 September, the day the ninth vaccination campaign for children and adolescents in two years kicked off.
In a statement, the National Directorate of Public Health explained that the vaccination campaign, the second in 2023, took place “due to the fact that since last year the country has been registering cases of wild poliovirus (eight cases) and circulating vaccine derivatives type 1 and 2 (33 cases)”, which cause polio.
However, he added, “it’s worth noting that the country has now gone a year without any new cases of Wild poliovirus type 1,” the last of which was recorded in August 2023, “almost seven months without any new cases of Circulating Vaccine Derived poliovirus type 1,” the last of which occurred in February 2023, and “18 months without any new cases of Circulating Vaccine Derived poliovirus type 2,” following the case recorded in March 2022.
The ninth polio vaccination campaign took place over four days in all provinces and was aimed at children and adolescents under the age of 15, targeting a total of 21,749,477 people.
Polio is an infectious disease with no cure that mainly affects children under the age of five and can only be prevented by vaccination.
In some cases, it can cause paralysis of the limbs.
Lusa
