Health
Keep the Fight Against Polio Alive in Ethiopia
Capital Ethiopia · 4 hours ago · Read the Full Story on Capital Ethiopia
AI SUMMARY
Although Ethiopia was certified free of wild poliovirus in 2017, health officials emphasize that sustained vaccination, surveillance, and global partnerships remain essential to prevent a resurgence.
- Ethiopia was certified free of wild poliovirus in 2017 after indigenous transmission stopped and the last imported case was reported in 2014.
- Polio can spread silently because most infected people show no paralysis or symptoms while still shedding the virus.
- Global eradication efforts rely on acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) surveillance, environmental surveillance, and laboratory testing.
- AFP surveillance helps health workers identify and investigate sudden paralysis in children under 15.
- Environmental surveillance involves testing wastewater to detect poliovirus shed by infected individuals, even without reported paralytic cases.
- Laboratory testing and genetic sequencing help identify the virus, trace its origin, and guide targeted vaccination campaigns.
- Surveillance in Ethiopia must reach remote rural areas, pastoralist populations, underserved urban communities, and border regions.
- Declining funding, staffing, and attention as cases become rarer poses a significant risk to eradication efforts.
- The infrastructure built for polio programs also strengthens Ethiopia's response to other health threats like measles, cholera, Ebola, and COVID-19.
- Polio eradication requires cooperation among government institutions, the World Health Organization, UNICEF, Rotary International, health workers, parents, and communities.