The Forty-second 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 18 June 2025 with committee members and advisers meeting via video conference with affected countries, 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 the global target of interruption and certification of WPV1 eradication by 2027 and interruption and certification of cVDPV2 elimination by 2029. Technical updates were received about the situation in the following countries: Afghanistan, Angola, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Papua New Guinea.
Since the last Emergency Committee meeting, nine new WPV1 cases were reported, one from Afghanistan and eight from Pakistan bringing the total to 13 WPV1 cases in 2025. In 2024, 99 WPV1 cases were reported during the whole year, including 25 from Afghanistan and 74 from Pakistan. A total of 275 WPV1 positive environmental samples have been reported in 2025 so far (as of 04 June), 30 from Afghanistan and 245 from Pakistan. In 2024, 741 WPV1 positive environmental samples were reported during the whole year, including 113 from Afghanistan and 628 from Pakistan.
The upward trend in WPV1 cases and environmental detections has persisted in both endemic countries throughout 2024. In Pakistan, this increase has been evident since mid-2023, initially in environmental samples and later in paralytic polio cases, primarily in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Sindh, and Balochistan. In Afghanistan, the rise in WPV1 detections, both in environmental samples and cases during 2024 and 2025 has been concentrated primarily in the South Region. WPV1 transmission in Afghanistan’s East Region has significantly declined during the first half of 2025, indicating enhanced population immunity. The Committee noted with concern the geographic expansion of WPV1 to new provinces and districts in both endemic countries during 2024 and 2025. Notably, Gilgit-Baltistan province in Pakistan reported its first WPV1 case in over eight years, underscoring the continued risk posed by persistent transmission in core reservoir areas. Currently, the most intense WPV1 transmission is occurring in the southern cross-border epidemiological corridor, encompassing Quetta Block (Pakistan) and the South Region (Afghanistan). The Committee also noted the ongoing WPV1 transmission in the epidemiologically critical blocks of Karachi, South KP and Central Pakistan.
