One Polio case reported this week. See the updated numbers attached.
What is that Polio Picture? It's a picture of the Honorable Minister of State Mrs. Saira Afzal Taror at the national launch of IPV into the routine immunization schedule in Islamabad.
Pakistan has become the second polio-endemic country to introduce the inactivated polio vaccine into the country’s routine immunization schedule, a move which will benefit more than four million children per year across the country.
Pakistan is one of only three countries in the world where polio remains endemic. Nigeria, which recently marked one year without a case of wild polio, introduced the vaccine in February of this year, and Afghanistan is due to begin using IPV in the coming weeks. While every country in the world is set to introduce IPV, endemic countries will greatly benefit from the boost in immunity that new evidence has clearly demonstrated that adding one dose of IPV to OPV offers to children as they fight to end transmission of the virus. Aziz Memon from Rotary International emphasized that “… adding at least one dose of IPV to the routine immunization schedule is the best possible way to protect your children from life-long polio paralysis, while the disease is being eradicated from the remaining endemic hotspots.”
Could 2015-16 be the year of the final Polio case?
Quote of the day - "They may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel." Carl W. Buechner
Pakistan - No new Polio cases reported in Pakistan this week. Twenty-nine Polio cases have been reported in 2015 compared to 117 at this time last year. Three new polio positive environmental samples were reported this week
Afghanistan - Subnational Immunization Days will take place in the South & East of the country on Sept. 20-22 using bivalent OPV and National Immunization Days will take place Oct. 18-20 using trivalent OPV.
The Final Three Endemic Countries:
Pakistan - Twenty Nine Polio cases reported in 2015 with 306 cases recorded in 2014 The most recent case was reported on 06/30/15 in Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Afghanistan - Eight Polio cases reported in 2015 with 28 cases recorded in 2014. The most recent case was reported on 08/01/15 from the Achin District of Nangarhar.
Nigeria - Zero Polio cases reported in 2015 with 6 cases recorded in 2014. The most recent case was reported on 7/24/14.
Importation Countries:
Ethiopia (1 case in 2014), Cameroon (5 cases in 2014), Somalia (5 cases in 2014), Iraq (2 cases in 2014), Syria (1 case in 2014), & Equatorial Guinea (5 cases in 2014) - all report no Polio cases in 2015.
