As the world observes World Polio Day, Africa has reported 134 new polio cases across seven countries, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Matshidiso Moeti, WHO’s regional director for Africa, confirmed that the circulating type 2 polio variant has been detected in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, Mali, Niger, and Nigeria.
In 2023, polio affected 541 children worldwide, with 85 percent residing in 31 fragile, conflict-affected, and vulnerable countries, as highlighted in a UNICEF analysis released on World Polio Day. Over the past five years, polio cases in these regions have more than doubled, while routine childhood immunization rates have dropped from 75 percent to 70 percent, well below the 95 percent needed for herd immunity.
Globally, declining childhood vaccination rates have led to a resurgence of polio outbreaks, even in countries that had been polio-free for many years.
This issue is particularly severe in conflict-affected areas, with 15 of the 21 such countries—like Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, South Sudan, and Yemen—currently grappling with polio challenges.
Recently, UNICEF and its partners have intensified emergency efforts to combat the rise in polio cases.
In Gaza, for example, UNICEF and WHO collaborated to vaccinate nearly 600,000 children under the age of 10 in the first phase of a polio vaccination campaign launched in mid-September. The second and final phase has been successfully completed in southern and central Gaza, though mass displacements and bombings have disrupted efforts in the northern region. This campaign marks the return of polio to Gaza after a 25-year absence.
In Sudan, childhood vaccination coverage has fallen from 85 percent before the conflict to just 53 percent in 2023, with coverage in conflict zones as low as 30 percent. In response, UNICEF and partners have conducted two emergency vaccination campaigns, reaching 2.9 million children under five through door-to-door efforts.
Urgent polio vaccination efforts in fragile and conflict-affected regions are essential to prevent further cases and protect vulnerable children. Humanitarian pauses remain vital for enabling healthcare workers to safely reach children with vaccines.
