The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared a polio outbreak in Papua New Guinea after routine screening detected the poliovirus in two asymptomatic children from Lae, prompting immediate calls for nationwide immunization.
This makes it the country’s second outbreak since losing its polio-free status in 2018, with genetic analysis linking the strain to circulating viruses in neighboring Indonesia’s Papua province.
Papua New Guinea’s Health Minister Elias Kapavore pledged to achieve 100% polio immunization by year-end, targeting all children under 10 across the nation’s low-coverage districts where vaccination rates plummet to just 8%.
The campaign, supported by WHO, UNICEF, and Australia, aims to reach 3.5 million people amid concerns over the virus’s potential cross-border spread. “Polio knows no borders,” warned WHO representative Dr. Sevil Huseynova, emphasizing the critical need for full vaccination coverage.
The Polio Virus Menace
The highly infectious poliovirus spreads through fecal-oral transmission and respiratory droplets, primarily affecting children under five. While most infections show no symptoms, 1 in 100 to 1,000 cases leads to irreversible paralysis or life-threatening respiratory failure.
The detection in healthy carriers underscores the stealthy nature of this vaccine-preventable disease, which had been nearly eradicated globally before recent resurgences in Pakistan (74 cases) and Afghanistan (24 cases) last year.
Health authorities confirmed the outbreak strain’s genetic connection to Indonesian poliovirus, raising alarms along the shared border region. The declaration follows WHO’s recent warning about polio risks in war-torn Gaza, where wastewater surveillance detected the virus.
UNICEF’s Veera Mendonca emphasised partnering with community and religious leaders to combat vaccine hesitancy in Papua New Guinea’s underserved areas, where misinformation has hampered immunization efforts.
Why It Matters
With less than half the population currently vaccinated, this outbreak threatens to reverse two decades of progress against a disease that once paralyzed thousands annually.
The rapid response campaign’s success will determine whether Papua New Guinea can reclaim its polio-free certification or face prolonged circulation of this ancient scourge in vulnerable Pacific communities.
