Tracking Polio Eradication Progress in 2024

The reliable and timely detection of poliovirus cases is a critical component of polio eradication programs wrote the U.S. CDC.

Since 1988, the number of polio cases caused by wild poliovirus (WPV) has declined by 99.9%, and eradication of WPV serotypes 2 and 3 has been certified.

On April 4, 2024, a new Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report confirmed only WPV1 continues to circulate, and transmission remains endemic in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

During 2022–2023, among 28 priority countries, 71.4% met national surveillance indicator targets, and the number of environmental surveillance sites increased.

However, the CDC says that maintaining high-quality surveillance is critical to increasing this rate and achieving the goal of global polio eradication.

To strengthen the fight against polio, health ministers from across the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region gathered in late March 2024 for the 10th meeting of the Regional Subcommittee on Polio Eradication and Outbreaks.

"One of my key priorities as your Regional Director is to strengthen our region's public health capacities so that you have all the tools not only to end the transmission of polio but also to ensure that polio can indeed never make a comeback," commented Dr. Hanan Balkhy in a media release.

Another component of polio eradication is vaccinations.

According to the CDC, two types of polio vaccines are in use in 2024.

While the inactivated (killed) polio vaccine is offered in clinics and pharmacies in the U.S., over 1 billion novel oral polio vaccinations have recently occurred.

The nOPV2 vaccine has been offered in more than 35 countries worldwide. 

The nOPV2 vaccine is being deployed under the WHO's pre-qualified Emergency Use Listing procedure, the first use for a polio vaccine.