WHO declares outbreak of wild polio virus in Papua New Guinea

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has officially declared a polio outbreak in the Southwest Pacific island country of Papua New Guinea on 15 May 2025. The WHO declared this after two children were found to be infected with the polio virus.

The Last Polio outbreak was reported in the country in 2018, and since 2020, no fresh case of polio virus has been reported in the country till now.

The WHO has called for universal polio vaccination coverage in the country where less than half of the population is vaccinated against polio virus.

The WHO fears that the virus can spread to other parts of the world and put in danger the goal of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), to eradicate the disease from earth.

Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI)

The World Health Assembly  of the WHO adopted a resolution in 1988 for the worldwide eradication of polio. To realize this goal a public private partnership, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) was launched in 1988 .

According to the WHO, since the launch of GPEI,the cases of wild poliovirus around the globe has declined by 99%. 

Wild Polio was endemic in 125 countries, and it has now been reduced to only two -Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Of the 3 strains of wild poliovirus -type 1, type 2 and type 3-, the wild poliovirus type 2 was eradicated in 1999 and wild poliovirus type 3 was eradicated in 2020.

Endemic wild poliovirus type 1 remains in two countries-  Pakistan and Afghanistan.

About Polio Disease 

Polio or poliomyelitis is a viral disease which is caused by poliovirus.

• It mainly affects children below 5 years of age.
• It affects the nervous system of the body and causes paralysis.
• It spreads from an infected person to another mainly through a faecal-oral route.
• The virus also spreads through sharing contaminated food or food.
• The virus multiplies in the intestine of the human body.
• American Jonas Salk invented the first vaccine against polio in 1952.
• The oral polio vaccine was invented by American Albert Sabin, which contains a live, weakened virus. 

About Papua New Guinea 

Papua New Guinea is an island country in the Southwest Pacific Ocean.

Its main source of foreign exchange is the export of gold and copper.

The British Monarch is the Head of the State of the country and it is a member of the Commonwealth.

Capital: Port Moresby 

Currency: Kina 

Head of State: King Charles III  of Great Britain 

Prime Minister - James Marape

World Health Organisation 

Founded: 7 April 1948.

Members: 194 countries and 2 associate members.

It is an agency of the United Nations.

Director General of WHO: Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (since May 2017).

Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland