Addis Ababa, 31 January 2014 –- After over ten years without a single indigenous case of wild poliovirus (WPV), in 2013 importation of the virus was witnessed in Ethiopia. The country is now one of three countries with imported polio cases since the current outbreak affecting the Horn of Africa began in Somalia in May 2013. 

Recognizing the significance of efficient outbreak control for achieving global polio eradication, the 59th World Health Assembly (WHA) urged all polio-free Member States to respond rapidly and effectively to control polio outbreaks. WHO further recommends that three months after the notification of the first case, assessments of the quality and adequacy of outbreak response activities should be conducted by an external review team against the WHA-established standards. This should be repeated every three months as long as the outbreak continues. 

A multi-agency assessment team comprising of technical officers from WHO, UNICEF, USAID, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Rotary International, American Red Cross, CORE Group and the Federal Ministry of Health conducted the first polio outbreak response assessment in Ethiopia 21-29 January 2014, covering 7 regions. 

The assessment team commended the country’s fast and aggressive response to the outbreak that met most of milestones recommended by WHA. The team concluded that with the existing high-level commitment at the national and regional levels, particularly in the infected Somali Region, the current outbreak can be stopped within six months, if appropriate actions to address remaining operational barriers to higher population immunity are implemented. 

The State Minister for Health, the WHO Representative, and the UNICEF Deputy Representative thanked the assessment team, but urged them to appreciate the context in which the country implemented the emergency polio outbreak response activities, simultaneously introducing rotavirus vaccine and the MenAfrivac campaign. WHO and UNICEF pledged on behalf of the EPI (Expanded Programme on Immunization) partners to support the country in translating the recommendations of the assessment into an action plan, so that Ethiopia can end the wild polio virus outbreak within the next six months.
________________________________________________

For more information, please contact: 

Dr William Komakech, Acting EPI Team Leader,
komakechw [at] who.int, Tel: +251 911200598; 

Viivi Erkkilä, Communications Officer, erkkilav [at] et.afro.who.int,
Tel: +251 936 811 947.