WHO will take action to prevent the spread of wild polio in Malawi.
REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, LILONGWR — Malawi declares epidemic polio liar after discovering the case of a young child in the capital city of Lilongwe. This is the first case wild polio virus in Africa in more than five years.
The World Health Organization (WHO) on Thursday (17/2/2022) said, strain (strain) found in children in Lilongwe is similar to one case circulating in Pakistan. WHO Regional Director for Africa, Matshidiso Moeti, said WHO would take immediate action to prevent the potential spread of wild polio in Malawi.
“As long as wild polio exists everywhere in the world, all countries remain at risk of importing the virus. Following the detection of wild polio in Malawi, we are taking immediate action to prevent its potential spread,” said Moeti, quoted by Antara. AljazirahFriday (18/2).
WHO will provide assistance to health authorities in Malawi. WHO will assist with risk assessment and outbreak response and deploy the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) rapid response team. WHO is also increasing additional polio immunization.
Africa was declared free of wild polio in August 2020. The WHO said the discovery of new cases did not affect the status of Africa which had been free of wild polio outbreaks.
“The last case of wild poliovirus in Africa was identified in northern Nigeria in 2016 and globally there will be only five cases in 2021. Each case of wild poliovirus is an important event and we will mobilize all resources to support the country’s response,” said the Polio Coordinator at the Office. WHO Regional for Africa, Modjirom Ndoutabe.
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