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Polio this week

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End-of-year message from Dr Jamal Ahmed

Read an end-of-year message to all polio eradicators around the world, from Jamal Ahmed, WHO Director of Polio Eradication and Chair of the GPEI Strategy Committee.

UN Foundation opens latest round of Polio Press Fellowships

The UN Foundation is now accepting applications for its 2026 Polio Press Fellowship for Individual Reporting. The fellowship is geared towards journalists interested in covering stories on polio eradication. Selected journalists will receive funding to travel independently to countries at the forefront of the polio eradication effort to gather stories and interviews with polio survivors, health care workers, community members, families, and health authorities. Reporting trips must be conducted by mid-September 2026. The application deadline is January 7, 2026. Apply here

Summary of new polioviruses this week: 

  • Pakistan:  38 WPV1-positive environmental samples
  • Chad:  one cVDPV2 case and two cVDPV3 cases
  • Ethiopia:  one cVDPV2 case
  • Somalia:  one cVDPV2-positive environmental sample
  • Sudan:  five cVDPV2 cases
  • Tanzania:  two cVDPV2-positive environmental samples
  • Yemen:  four cVDPV2-positive environmental samples
Country updates as of 17 December 2025

More information on the countries that have reported cases and/or environmental samples this week.

  • No WPV1 case was reported this week.  The total number of cases this year is 30.  The number of cases for 2024 remains 74.
  • 38 WPV1-positive environmental samples were reported this week, from across the country, all collected in November.

  • One cVDPV2 case was reported this week, with onset of paralysis on 17 October, from Logone Oriental.  The number of cVDPV2 cases this year is 25. The number of cVDPV2 cases from 2024 remains 39.
  • No cVDPV2-positive environmental samples were reported this week.
  • Two cVDPV3 cases were reported this week, from Hadjer Lamis and Lac, collected on 17 and 18 October. The number of cVDPV3 cases for 2025 is four.

  • One cVDPV2 case was reported this week, with onset of paralysis on 7 October, from Oromiya. The total number of cases reported in 2025 is 40. The number of cases from 2024 remains 44.
  • No cVDPV2-positive environmental samples were reported this week.

  • No cVDPV2 case was reported this week. There have been seven cases reported in 2024 and one in 2025
  • One cVDPV2-positive environmental sample was reported this week, from Lower Juba, collected on 16 November.

  • Five cVDPV2 cases were reported this week, from Kordofan (onset of paralysis on 12 August) and Kassala (onsets of paralysis in September and early October). There have been seven cases reported for 2025, and one for 2024. 
  • No cVDPV2-positive environmental samples were reported this week.

  • No cVDPV2 cases were reported this week. There were two cases reported in 2023.
  • Two cVDPV2-positive environmental samples were reported this week, from Mwanza, both collected on 20 November.

  • No cVDPV2 case was reported this week.  The number of reported cases for 2024 is 187 and 30 for 2025.
  • Four cVDPV2-positive environmental samples were reported this week, from Hadramoat Almukalla and Aden, collected between end July and end September.