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Polio this week

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Gavi and GPEI Boards Meet to Boost Immunization and Drive Polio to Zero

The Boards of Gavi and the Global Polio Eradication Initiative met for their second joint session, focusing on one shared mission: reaching the world’s zero-dose and under-immunized children — and keeping the world on track to finish polio for good. More.

Global Polio Certification Experts Meet in Geneva to Assess Progress and Next Steps

The Global Commission for the Certification of Poliomyelitis Eradication (GCC) met in Geneva last week to review the worldwide polio situation, including regional vaccination and surveillance trends. The experts examined current strategies — including the GPEI Action Plan 2026 — and discussed how to accelerate eradication while strengthening protection in polio-free regions.

Integration in Action: Polio Team Helps Stop Latest Ebola Outbreak in DRC

The Democratic Republic of the Congo has officially declared the end of its recent Ebola outbreak — and the polio eradication network played a key role. Working with the Ministry of Health, WHO deployed experienced polio experts to strengthen surveillance, logistics, contact tracing and community engagement in affected areas of Kasai Province. A perfect example of how polio infrastructure protects far more than polio alone. More.

Africa Gets a New Tool for Smarter Health Decisions: The AFRO Geodatabase

WHO’s African Region has launched the new AFRO Geodatabase — a trusted, continent-wide source of verified administrative boundary data designed to improve geospatial governance and support stronger, data-driven public health decision-making in every country. More.

New Rotary Video: How the Global Polio Lab Network Detects and Tracks Poliovirus

A new Rotary educational video takes you inside the Global Polio Laboratory Network — the “eyes and ears” of polio eradication — and shows how labs around the world detect, confirm and genetically track polioviruses to guide outbreak response. More.

Summary of new polioviruses this week: 

  • Angola:  one cVDPV2 case
  • Chad:  two cVDPV2-positive environmental samples
  • DR Congo:  two cVDPV2 cases
  • Papua New Guinea:  seven cVDPV2-positive environmental samples
Country updates as of 3 December 2025

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

  • One cVDPV2 case was reported this week, from Huila, with onset of paralysis on 13 October. There have been 17 cases reported in 2025. The number of cases for 2024 remains nine.
  • No cVDPV2-positive environmental sample was reported this week.

  • No cVDPV2 cases were reported this week.  The number of cVDPV2 cases this year is 24. The number of cVDPV2 cases from 2024 remains 39.
  • Two cVDPV2-positive environmental samples were reported this week, from N’Djamena, collected on 28 October.
  • No cVDPV3 case was reported this week. The number of cVDPV3 cases for 2025 is two.

  • No cVDPV1 case was reported this week.  The number of cases from 2024 remains 10.  The number of cases from 2025 remains one.
  • Two cVDPV2 cases were reported this week, from Tshuapa province, with onsets of paralysis on 25 October 2025 and 27 May 2023.
  • The 2023 case had first been detected in January 2025 as a single VDPV2 isolate. The new case from October is genetically linked to that earlier virus, confirming that both belong to a new cVDPV2 emergence in the country.
  • This finding highlights the risk posed by persisting subnational gaps in both vaccination coverage and surveillance, which allow low-level transmission to emerge and continue undetected over extended periods.
  • The number of cVDPV2 cases for 2025 is now one (part of the new emergence discussed above) and the number of cVDPV2 cases from 2024 remains 15

  • No cVDPV2 case was reported this week.  There are five cases reported from the country in 2025.
  • Seven cVDPV2-positive environmental samples were reported this week, from National Capital, Eastern Highlands, Western Highlands and Morobe, all collected in October.