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<EM>Ali Maow Maalin, smallpox survivor and Somali polio eradication champion, passes away.</EM>

The world loses one of the “true heroes” of polio eradication

Ali Maow Maalin, smallpox survivor and Somali polio eradication champion, passes away. Full story
  

Polio eradication this week:

  • In Pakistan, FATA remains the major poliovirus reservoir, threatening progress achieved elsewhere in the country and in neighbouring Afghanistan. An analysis of vaccination status of non-polio acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) cases suggests that more than half of children in FATA remain under-immunised, with as many as 40% never having received a single dose of OPV.
  • In Israel, an SIA with OPV is being conducted this week, targeting 200,000 children in the south. The move follows isolation of WPV1 from sewage samples collected from 20 sampling sites since February. No cases of paralytic polio have been reported. While Israel has high vaccination coverage with inactivated polio vaccine (IPV), the objective of the OPV SIA is to boost mucosal immunity levels to rapidly interrupt virus circulation. 


  

Behind the news: the outbreak in the Horn of Africa

Despite the outbreak, the end of polio remains in sight

31 July 2013- A polio-free world is closer than ever to becoming a reality, despite the current outbreak affecting the Horn of Africa which, as of today, has paralysed 105 children.

 

Reading the news lately, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the outbreak spells disaster for the programme – but don’t be ... Full story

  

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