Polio

The world is anxiously awaiting the development of a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine. Nearly 60 years ago, the world was also waiting in eager anticipation of a publicly available vaccine to stop a disease that was ravaging communities around the world and leaving debilitating paralysis in its wake: polio.

Throughout the country, all year-round, routine and supplementary immunisation activities took place to ensure that no child was left behind from being vaccinated.

Kandahar, Afghanistan, 24 October 2020: In Dand District, Kandahar, southern Afghanistan, Sakina Abdul Ghafar mobilizes her community in support of polio vaccines. She is amongst 520 females, including mothers, in Kandahar that play a key role in reaching families with polio information. 

In the face of the challenges posed by the pandemic, Ghana is working to protect 4.5 million at-risk children from polio through the launch of two polio vaccination campaigns. Here’s a closer look at those efforts for World Polio Day.

Snapshots from DRC, India and Zambia illustrate country ownership and progress in the fights against Ebola, polio and HPV.

Polio, a contagious disease caused by the poliomyelitis virus is transmitted primarily when stool from someone infected contaminates foods, drinks or water sources. It invades the nervous system and could, in a matter of hours, lead to complete paralysis. On the 24th of August 2020, the World Health Organisation (WHO) officially declared Nigeria and Africa polio-free.

More than 3,000 health workers are conducting a three-day health campaign from 30 August to 1 September 2020 to ensure that around 400,000 children aged under five receive measles and polio vaccines, as well as vitamin A and deworming tablets, at fixed and outreach sites.

How the African Region is Celebrating the End of Wild Polio while cVDPV Outbreaks Continue

By foot, boat and bicycle, thousands of volunteer vaccinators in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) go to extraordinary efforts, sometimes at personal risk, to help eradicate polio.

When Aisha took her son Busami Modu to his grandmother’s house in Kuya, a village in Borno state, Nigeria, she waved goodbye to a healthy, happy little boy. A “beauty to behold,” she recalls. The next time she saw him, he was paralysed and unable to walk.