Polio Update Report

In 1979, when most of the world's children were unvaccinated against polio, Rotary took on the cause of eliminating the crippling disease by universally vaccinating every child. Today, with more than 2.5 billion children worldwide vaccinated and immune from polio, new cases have be reduced to a few per year and contained to two countries, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
 
This page contains information gathered by the World Health Organization and is updated weekly. For more information, contact District Polio Chair Diane Chantler.
 
Poliovirus Weekly Update
31-March-2026, World Health Organization
 

Officially reported WPV1 and cVDPV cases as of 31 March 2026

Wild poliovirus (WPV)

·         Total global WPV1 cases in 2025: 52

·         Total global WPV1: cases in 2026: 2 (compared with 7 for the same period in 2025)

 

The number of wild polio cases for 2026 as of March 31, 2026, is 2. There was 1 in Pakistan and 1 in Afghanistan.

The total number of wild polio cases for 2025 were 52. There were 31 in Pakistan and 21 in Afghanistan.


Circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus (cVDPV) cases

·         Total global cVDPV cases in 2025: 233

·         Total global cVDPV cases in 2026: 19 (compared with 18 for the same period in 2025)

 

New wild poliovirus isolates reported this week:
AFP cases: 1
Environment: 14
Others: 0

New cVDPV isolates reported this week:
AFP cases: 1
Environment: 1
Others: 2

“We are one step away from eradication – Britain must not walk away.”

Click here for an editorial by British Member of Parliament Bob Blackman, in response to the UK’s recent announcement to end its funding for GPEI, amid a new detection of virus from a London environmental sample.  “We will regret if we let a generation of progress, and the chance to end this disease forever, slid away.”

Gavi:  in Zimbabwe, an almost-deadly collision between fake news and a real virus

Read this informative article by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, about how misinformation can affect and potentially derail polio vaccination campaigns, and what partners and authorities did to combat such misinformation. 

UNICEF ExD on high-level visit to Somalia

UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell visited Somalia last week, meeting with officials, health workers, parents and children, including at a UNICEF-supported hospital in Mogadishu where a mother had brought in her baby for a polio vaccination.  Children in Somalia continue to face the threat of polio, and UNICEF and its partners continue to support the government and people of Somalia to end polio in their country. 

Summary of new polioviruses this week: 

  • Afghanistan:  one WPV1 case and 12 WPV1-positive environmental samples
  • Pakistan:  two WPV1-positive environmental samples
  • Nigeria:  one cVDPV2 case
  • Somalia:  one cVDPV2-positive environmental sample

 


https://polioeradication.org/ for more information