5 African international locations have stopped the unfold of poliovirus kind 2, the World Well being Group (WHO) has stated.
Outbreaks in Burundi, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, DR Congo and Uganda have now been formally closed following impartial assessments carried out between January and June 2026.
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The assessments reviewed illness surveillance, laboratory and epidemiological information, vaccination campaigns and inhabitants immunity. The groups discovered that transmission had stopped, which was later confirmed by the WHO Regional Workplace for Africa.
“This is a vital milestone, however it’s not the top of the journey. Continued vigilance, sturdy surveillance and excessive immunisation protection stay important to guard youngsters and stop future outbreaks,” stated Dr Mohamed Janabi, WHO Regional Director for Africa.
The 5 international locations used totally different approaches to include the virus, however vaccination and surveillance had been central to their responses.
In DR Congo, the final poliovirus detection was reported in December 2023. Well being authorities adopted this with vaccination campaigns and efforts to keep up surveillance and shut immunity gaps in high-risk areas.
Burundi declared its circulating poliovirus kind 2 outbreak in March 2023 and stepped up routine vaccination and surveillance. Focused vaccination campaigns, epidemiological investigations and environmental surveillance had been additionally used to trace the virus.
Uganda intensified its response after poliovirus was detected in Could 2024, strengthening surveillance and coordination between nationwide and native well being authorities.
Ghana mixed illness surveillance and speedy outbreak response with funding in laboratory capability. Ghana and Uganda each upgraded their laboratories earlier this 12 months, bettering their capacity to detect poliovirus and different vaccine-preventable illnesses.
Guinea-Bissau has recorded no poliovirus detection since July 2021. Its response included focused vaccination campaigns geared toward underserved communities and stronger illness surveillance.
WHO stated the outbreak closures don’t rule out new detections or importations of poliovirus. Madagascar lately detected the virus after an earlier outbreak had been closed.
The WHO African Area has additionally invested in its polio laboratory community to enhance testing. The upgrades made in 2025 have elevated diagnostic capability and shortened the time wanted to establish the virus.
Nations in Africa have upgraded their surveillance and laboratory methods to detect poliovirus sooner. The area upgraded its polio laboratory community in 2025, making it simpler to check samples and establish the virus sooner.
Well being groups are utilizing mapping instruments to seek out communities missed throughout vaccination campaigns and observe inhabitants actions in border and hard-to-reach areas.
“Each outbreak closed means extra youngsters shielded from a illness that may trigger lifelong paralysis,” stated Mike McGovern, chair of the International Polio Eradication Initiative’s Polio Oversight Board and Rotary Worldwide’s Worldwide PolioPlus Committee.
Polio is a extremely infectious illness that may trigger irreversible paralysis. There is no such thing as a remedy for it, however vaccination can forestall it.
An outbreak is taken into account closed after an impartial Outbreak Response Evaluation crew finds that transmission linked to it has stopped, adopted by a assessment by the WHO Regional Workplace for Africa.
Rwanda was declared polio-free in 2004, after the nation reported its final case of untamed poliovirus in 1993.
