Mali

Status: imported poliovirus

Mali 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 West Africa

No new cases were reported in the past week. The total number of cases for 2011 in West Africa remains 51 (36 from Côte d'Ivoire, three from Guinea, seven from Mali, and five from Niger). All cases are WPV3, except for three WPV1 cases from Niger. The most recent WPV1 case from the region had onset of paralysis on 22 December from Niger, and the most recent WPV3 case had onset of paralysis on 3 August from Guinea.
Immunization campaigns are planned for seven countries in west Africa this week (to be launched on 11 May), in Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso, Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Cote d’Ivoire.
Special strategies are being explored to further reach populations in Mali, as well as populations on the move as a result of the insecurity in the country. Additional tactics are being explored, such as adding OPV to other already-planned humanitarian and health interventions in response to insecurity and the Sahel emergency.

Mali