The 44th meeting of the Emergency Committee under the International Health Regulations (IHR or Regulations) on the international spread of poliovirus was convened by the WHO Director-General on 14 January 2026 with eight out of nine Committee members and the adviser meeting via video conference with affected countries, supported by the WHO Secretariat. The Emergency Committee reviewed the latest epidemiological data on wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) and circulating vaccine-derived polioviruses (cVDPV) in the context of the global targets to interrupt endemic WPV1 transmission in 2026 and to stop cVDPV2 outbreaks by 2028 with subsequent certification of WPV1 eradication and cVDPV2 elimination. Technical updates were received about the situation in the following countries: Afghanistan, Angola, Germany, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Namibia, Pakistan and Papua New Guinea.
Amendments to the IHR, adopted by the Seventy-seventh World Health Assembly, through resolution WHA77.17 in June 2024, entered into force, generally, on 19 September 2025.. Key amendments to the IHR include, inter alia, broader poliovirus notification requirements; the introduction of the determination of “pandemic emergency” , a higher level of global public health alert with respect to a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC); measures to strengthen equitable access to relevant health products; and recognition of health documents in non-digital and digital formats.
Since the last Emergency Committee meeting on 1 October 2025, nine new WPV1 cases have been reported from the two endemic countries, Afghanistan (5) and Pakistan (4). The cases in Afghanistan were reported from the South and East Regions of the country, while in Pakistan the cases were reported from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh provinces. In 2025 to date, 40 WPV1 cases have been reported: nine in Afghanistan and 31 in Pakistan. This compares to 99 WPV1 cases reported in all of 2024. For environmental surveillance, a total of 673 WPV1 positive samples have been reported so far in 2025 (64 from Afghanistan, 608 from Pakistan and one from Germany). This compares to 741 positive environmental samples reported during all of 2024 (113 from Afghanistan and 628 from Pakistan). It is important to note that land border closures between Afghanistan and Pakistan have disrupted the shipment of AFP and environmental surveillance samples to the Regional Reference Laboratory in Islamabad, Pakistan since 12 October 2025. As a result, a substantial backlog of untested samples has accumulated. Efforts are underway by WHO and Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) to resume shipments and accelerate testing, noting that results from pending samples may lead to changes in the current epidemiological assessment.
