The World Health Organization (WHO) has confirmed the emergence of a polio outbreak in Papua New Guinea, prompting an urgent call for an immediate nationwide immunisation campaign to contain the disease.
Health authorities detected traces of the poliovirus in two asymptomatic children during routine health screenings in Lae, a major coastal hub located in the country’s northeast. The discovery has heightened concerns about the potential spread of the virus, which remains highly contagious and can cause irreversible paralysis, particularly among children.
Despite global efforts that have brought the eradication of polio tantalizingly close, the disease has made a troubling return in isolated regions, with Papua New Guinea now joining the list of countries confronting its resurgence. The WHO estimates that fewer than 50 percent of the country’s population have received the polio vaccine, leaving large swaths of the population vulnerable.
“We cannot afford to wait. This is a matter of urgency, and our response must be swift and comprehensive,” said Sevil Huseynova, WHO’s representative in Papua New Guinea. She warned that if left unchecked, the outbreak risks spreading beyond the country’s borders, potentially reversing hard-won progress in the global fight against polio.
“We have to make maximum effort to get 100% [vaccination] coverage,” Dr Huseynova said at a media conference on Thursday.
“Polio knows no borders.”
The disease is caused by the poliovirus, which spreads through contact with an infected person’s faeces or droplets when they cough and sneeze.
It mostly affects children under five years old.
There is no cure for polio, although the majority of people with the infection – including the two recent cases in Papua New Guinea – have no symptoms. Those who do may get a flu-like illness.
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A small number of people infected with polio – between one in a thousand and one in a hundred – develop more serious problems that can lead to paralysis. This is also when the disease becomes life-threatening, particularly when paralysis affects muscles used for breathing.
Papua New Guinea was said to be polio-free since 2000, until an outbreak in 2018, which was contained within the same year.
The latest cases were found to be carrying a virus strain genetically linked to one circulating in Indonesia. Papua New Guinea shares a border with Indonesia’s easternmost Papua province.
Health Minister Elias Kapavore has vowed to achieve 100% polio immunisation in the country by the end of this year.
“There is no excuse… Polio is a serious disease,” he said.
The ongoing campaign will target children aged 10 and below and is expected to reach around 3.5 million people.
“The battle on polio starts today,” the department wrote in a Facebook post yesterday.
The World Health Organization, in collaboration with UNICEF and the Australian government, has mobilized support to assist Papua New Guinea in its urgent vaccine rollout to curb the polio outbreak.
UNICEF’s representative in Papua New Guinea, Veera Mendonca, highlighted stark disparities in immunization coverage throughout the country, noting that some districts report vaccination rates as low as 8 percent. “Such low coverage is simply unacceptable,” Mendonca emphasized. She further explained that UNICEF is actively partnering with churches and community leaders to promote vaccine acceptance and to counteract misinformation that threatens public health efforts.
Polio’s resurgence is not confined to Papua New Guinea. Across Asia, the disease has made unsettling returns: Pakistan reported 74 cases last year, while Afghanistan documented 24. Moreover, the WHO has issued a warning regarding a potential outbreak in Gaza, where traces of the virus have recently been detected in wastewater samples amid ongoing conflict.