AFRICA NEARS POLIO-FREE STATUS, SAYS WHO
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The World Health Organization (WHO) has hailed Africa’s significant progress toward eradicating polio, declaring the continent “very close” to achieving polio-free status.
In a message marking World Polio Day 2025, the WHO’s Regional Director for Africa, Dr M Janabi, stated that the theme “End Polio: Every Child, Every Vaccine, Everywhere” captures the renewed determination to leave no child unprotected across the region.
Data presented by the WHO show that between January and October 2025, 15 African countries reached nearly 200 million children with at least one dose of polio vaccine through supplementary immunisation rounds. Thirteen countries coordinated mass campaigns simultaneously — even in difficult-to-reach, conflict-affected zones.
Key advances include a reduction of countries with active type 2 poliovirus outbreaks from 24 in 2024 to 14 in 2025, and a 54 percent drop in overall poliovirus detections. Notably, in May 2025, Madagascar officially ended its circulating variant 1 poliovirus outbreak after sustained surveillance and immunisation efforts.
The WHO emphasised that the progress is anchored in strengthened laboratory and surveillance capacity: by mid-2025, 11 WHO-supported laboratories had enhanced genomic sequencing, and six had started pilot testing advanced techniques. Environmental surveillance now covers 98 percent of countries in the region — monitoring wastewater and sewage to detect poliovirus early and prevent community spread.
Technological innovation has also played a role. Over 850,000 vaccination-workers across Africa now receive mobile-money payment within 10 days of campaign completion, boosting accountability and worker morale. Geospatial mapping tools deployed by the WHO’s GIS Centre have helped identify and reach previously missed populations, including nomadic and border-area children.
Despite the strong gains, Janabi issued a sober reminder: the “last mile” in the fight against polio is the hardest. He identified persistent challenges such as declining routine immunisation coverage, ongoing insecurity, interruptions to campaign schedules and rising vaccine hesitancy.
He urged African governments and international partners to maintain cross-border coordination, target zero-dose and under-immunised children, expand surveillance and sequencing capacity, and ensure high-quality outbreak response systems. “It’s not enough to stop transmission — we must build the systems, workforce and networks that sustain immunisation and outbreak preparedness,” he said.
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