Dr. Matshidiso: Africa Makes Significant Progress in Polio Eradication 

Dr.Dr. Matshidiso Moeti WHO Regional Director for Africa

24 October 2023: World Polio Day 2023: 
The World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Director for Africa Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, a significant progress has been made in polio eradication and calls on a  renewed  efforts to make polio a hiistory in Africa.

In her message during the World polio day 2023, she said with timely and effective interventions - in response to ongoing poliovirus outbreaks - WHO in the African Region has continued its stride towards ending the debilitating virus.
Dr  Matshidiso: "Although one case of polio is one too many, this year, we have seen a decrease in the number of detections in our region. From 438 circulating variant polio cases reported this time last year (end of September 2022) to 304 cases in the same period this year. This represents a decrease of 31% in the number of cases in the past 12 months."

According to her WHO has  seen no wild polio detections in the region in over a year and the results offer hope that the African Region will halt poliovirus circulation, to reach the global goal of polio eradication.
She brought it known that in the last mile, however, they can’t rest on their laurels because 21 countries in the African Region are still experiencing circulating variant polio outbreaks at this very moment where some of them are in areas that have not seen any previous circulation in decades.

She further said that the COVID-19 pandemic adversely affected the fight, too, leading to a dip in population immunity and a resurgence of certain poliovirus types which  combined with challenges related to vaccine availability, has heightened transmission risks adding that last year's wild polio cases in Malawi and Mozambique were a stark reminder that until the world is wild polio-free, all countries and regions remain at risk.
She  reiterated a tremendous efforts made in each country of the African Region on delivering high-quality vaccination campaigns and routine immunization as critical steps towards the region’s path to polio eradication. 

In addition, cross-border coordination for joint actions to track poliovirus and vaccinate children on the move continues to be a priority to end polio. Also, the use of innovative health solutions has a critical role to play in monitoring the effectiveness of vaccination campaigns.
"Our overall objective in the African Region is to stop the transmission of all types of polio and to integrate polio assets into activities to strengthen broader disease surveillance, outbreak response capacities, and immunization services", Dr. Matshidiso stressed.

She counts on the continued assistance of all the partners as they work with Member States to prioritize reaching “zero dose” children sometimes living under the most difficult circumstances and ensure quality and successful campaigns and she is looking forward to the enduring support of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) and Gavi in the African Region to close the widening immunity gap and bring immunization back to pre-pandemic levels.

She concluded her message by acknowledging the momentum of political commitment, and the recent innovative finance partnership (by the EU Commission, Gates Foundation, UNICEF, and the European Investment Bank) which she said is essential to making polio history and, in doing so, strengthening the health systems. Polio currently constitutes the only Public Health Emergency of International Concern, and we must continue to advocate to ensure the required action is carried out.