(Thanks to PRID Floyd Lancia and Region 38 End Polio Now Coordinator Mike Groom for these periodic updates)

Wild Polio Virus Summary:

• New wild poliovirus isolates reported this week:
  AFP cases: 0
  Environment: 1
  Others: 0
   
  New cVDPV isolates reported this week:
  AFP cases: 8
  Environment: 20
  Others: 7
  
  Headlines:– 
• The Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) is convening this week in Geneva, Switzerland, as part of its rigorous independent review of progress towards the Goals of the GPEI strategy 2022-2026. The meeting will enable the IMB to engage with high-level representatives from polio-affected countries and GPEI partners. The GPEI submitted a summary of key data to the IMB, to help its review and deliberations, looking at both Goal 1 and Goal 2 of the Polio Eradication Strategy 2022-2026.  More specifically, this data provides an in-depth look at each of the most consequential geographies.  As a group of experts independent of the GPEI, the IMB is uniquely placed to help identify the gaps and programmatic ‘blind spots,’ and identify where corrective actions might be required. The outcomes of the IMB’s review is scheduled to be published the week of 21 August and will be fully evaluated by the GPEI Polio Oversight Board at a face-to-face meeting in October.
• Africa’s polio certification commission calls for urgent action to bolster vaccination: Convening in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, on 3-7 July, the Africa Regional Certification Commission (ARCC) urged countries and health partners to urgently address gaps in polio immunity to avert outbreaks. The meeting gathered representatives of national and provincial health authorities from polio-affected countries. Reviewing the regional polio epidemiology, the ARCC commended health authorities for their leadership in responding to ongoing polio outbreaks, but urged for collective and strengthened action to boost overall immunity levels across the region. Read more…

Summary of new polioviruses this week:

Afghanistan:

• No wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) case was reported this week. There have been five WPV1 cases reported this year all from Nangarhar province.
• Nangarhar was covered during the recent subnational immunization days (SNIDs) in May, as part of intensified efforts to interrupt persistent local WPV1 transmission in the area.
• There have been 29 positive environmental samples reported this year.

Pakistan: 

• No WPV1 case was reported this week. There has been one WPV1 case in 2023 reported from Bannu, part of the seven polio-endemic districts located in the southern area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
• One WPV1 positive environmental sample was reported in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. There are 12 WPV1 environmental samples reported in the country this year.
• Intensified efforts continue to be implemented in the country, particularly in the southern area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, to urgently eradicate the remaining endemic WPV1 transmission.  Since January 2021, all reported cases have been from seven polio-endemic districts in the southern area of Khyber Pahktunkhwa (out of a total of 171 districts nationwide).

Officially reported WPV1 and cVDPV cases as of 11 July 2023

Wild poliovirus (WPV)
Total global WPV1 cases in 2023: 6 (compared with 13 for the same period in 2022)
Total global WPV1 cases in 2022: 30

Circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus (cVDPV) cases
Total global cVDPV cases in 2023: 141 (compared with 173 for the same period in 2022)
Total global cVDPV cases in 2022: 868