Central African Republic

Status: imported poliovirus

Central African Republic is one of the countries in the “wild poliovirus importation belt” – a band of countries stretching from west Africa to central Africa and the Horn of Africa, which are recurrently re-infected with poliovirus originating from northern Nigeria. The immediate priority is to stop all active outbreaks using mop-up campaigns with monovalent oral polio vaccine in the infected areas, combined with a series of large-scale, synchronized supplementary immunization activities across most of the “importation belt” countries to protect against further importations.

Strategy

Global Polio Eradication Initiative Strategic Plan 2010–2012

Polio campaign monitoring

Polio this week in Chad and Central African Republic

No new cases were reported in the past week. The total number of cases for 2012 remains three (all from Chad). The most recent case was a WPV1 infection in Chari Baguirmi, Chad, with onset of paralysis on 21 February. The total number of cases for 2011 remains 136 (132 in Chad and four in Central African Republic).
Preparations are ongoing for the 18-20 May subnational immunization activity. Special strategies are focusing on reaching urban populations (aged <5 years), but also nomadic groups (up to 15 years of age).
In Central African Republic, immunization campaigns were held this week (4-6 May). Discussions are underway to potentially conduct further immunization campaigns in June and July. Central African Republic is at particular risk of polio, due to its proximity to Chad and Nigeria.