The thirty-sixth meeting of the Emergency Committee under the International Health Regulations (2005) (IHR) on the international spread of poliovirus was convened by the WHO Director-General on 16 August 2023 with committee members and advisers attending via video conference, supported by the WHO Secretariat. The Emergency Committee reviewed the data on wild poliovirus (WPV1) and circulating vaccine derived polioviruses (cVDPV) in the context of global target of eradication of WPV and cessation of outbreaks of cVDPV2 by the end of 2023. Technical updates were received about the situation in the following countries: Afghanistan, Algeria, Burkino Faso, Kenya, Madagascar, Pakistan, United Republic of Tanzania and Zambia.
The committee noted that there has been one new case of WPV1 in Pakistan since the last meeting, bringing the total to two in 2023. Both cases occurred in Bannu district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province. There have been 15 environmental surveillance positive samples in 2023. Although the action plan in southern KP has resulted in 160,000 more children being vaccinated, the context remains challenging, including political instability, insecurity in some areas, with front line workers requiring police patrols to accompany them, and vaccination boycotts where communities make demands for other services in exchange for allowing polio vaccination. The programme continues to miss a large number of children. Except for south KP, the historic reservoirs in Pakistan are no longer endemic, but recent positive environmental samples in Peshawar and Karachi underline that the risk of an outbreak continue.
