THE DEVASTATING EARTHQUAKE THAT STRUCK AFGHANISTAN LAST WEEK struck five days before their planned start of the fifth nationwide polio vaccination campaign for 2022. How did the polio staff and workers respond? The campaign that was to occur in Paktika Province was postponed for only one week and the campaign for the Spera District of Khost Province will start on July 4th. On top of that, Polio Staff and Infrastructure are actively supporting emergency response efforts to the catastrophe. For example:

• Polio teams immediately helped establish communications and conducted assessments of the situation. With local knowledge and experience of working with local communities, polio teams in both Paktika and Khost provided the foundations to map the extent of the destruction, to ensure accurate data to help guide focused response to ensure rapid construction of tents for shelter and ad-hoc health camps.

• Polio staff helped provide trauma care to injured, and assisted in building tents, unpacking trucks, distribution of emergency and health and supply kits, and supported establishment to strengthen post- earthquake surveillance for acute watery diarrhea, measles, tetanus and COVID-19.

• In the longer term, the polio team will continue to work as part of WHO Afghanistan’s earthquake response including providing trauma care, physical rehabilitation and disability assistance, as well mental health and psychosocial support and emergency counseling to families affected by the earthquake.

As you can see, you can be proud of the response by the Polio Staff and Workers in Afghanistan 😊 .

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WILD POLIO VIRUS, TYPE 1 (WPV1) - Unfortunately another new case of WPV1 was reported last week in Pakistan, with the latest occurring on June 9th, bringing their total count of WPV1 cases to 11 as of January 1st. It occurred once again in the Khyber Pukhtunkhwa Province, the same area where the other 10 Pakistan cases have been reported.

TWENTY - The number of days since the last case of WPV1 occurred in Pakistan (May 27th).

NINETY-SIX - The number of days since the last case of WPV1 occurred in Mozambique (March 25th).
ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-SEVEN - The number of days since the last case of WPV1 occurred in Afghanistan (January 14th).

TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY-TWO (7 MONTHS +) - The number of days since the last case of WPV1 occurred in Malawi (November 19th, 2021).

THIRTEEN - The total number of cases of WPV1 that has occurred in 2022 year- to-date (One in Afghanistan, Eleven in Pakistan and One in Mozambique).
SIX - The total number of cases of WPV1 that occurred in 2021 (1 in Pakistan, 1 in Malawi and 4 in Afghanistan).

ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY - The total number of cases of WPV1 that occurred in 2020.
ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-SIX - The total number of cases of WPV1 that occurred in 2019.

There was also ONE Wild Positive Environmental Sample (ES) reported this last week, also in the Khyber Pukhtunkhwa Province of Pakistan. So the total count of wild ES for 2022 is now FOUR, Three from Pakistan and One from Afghanistan with the latest sample collected on May 20th of this year.

CIRCULATING VACCINE-DERIVED POLIO - Our other battlefront in the war on polio, the circulating Vaccine-Derived Polio (cVDPV) reported a total of Three new cases last week compared to Twenty the week before, with 2 in Niger and 1 in Nigeria, bringing the total 2022 count to 157, compared to 188 last year at this time. On a positive note this is the first time in the last 6 weeks that there were less cases reported last week compared to a year ago.
There were also 10 Positive Environmental Samples reported this last week, however, 6 samples were actually collected last year, leaving us with only 4 this year, one each in Benin, Niger, Nigeria and Somalia.