Malawi, others challenged on polio
The Africa Regional Certification Commission for Polio Eradication (ARCC) has advised Malawi and five other countries to urgently address gaps in polio immunity to prevent fresh outbreaks.
The call followed discussions between partners, countries and ARCC members in Maputo, Mozambique from October 31 to November 3 2023 on the response to ongoing polio outbreaks in the region. The other countries are Botswana, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe,
In a statement issued after the meeting, the ARCC said participants agreed that in 2024, it will be essential to increase the scale and number of vaccination rounds in the African Region, to rebuild immunity and put an end to all types of polio in Africa.
ARCC chairperson Professor Rose Leke said that the African region has over 300 confirmed cases of polio and almost 250 detections in sampled wastewater this year.
She said: “Step up efforts regarding the implementation of quality and timely supplementary immunization activities [SIAs] as well as surveillance, to increase population immunity and ensure early detection of any circulating viruses.”
On a positive note, the ARCC observed progress made by Mozambique, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Tanzania and Zambia in their response to the detections of wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) with no new cases for over a year now.
In July this year, Ministry of Health said it was targeting 8 856 591 children under the age of 15 with the oral polio vaccines in the first round of the supplementary immunisation activity.
The campaign followed the identification of four more cases of new WPV1 since February last year when the country registered two cases.
In an update, the Public Health Institute of Malawi said the country is now at the stage of finalising mobile money payments for vaccination teams and supervisors with missed/ mismatched names for the last campaign.
Poliovirus only infects people and enters the body through the mouth.
