Polio this week as of 29 March 2017

This week, synchronized polio campaigns were conducted across 13 countries in west and central Africa including Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, Guinea, Mali, and Niger. Over 190 000 vaccinators aimed to immunize more than 116 million children over the course of the campaign.

New this week: The growing role of environmental surveillance in the drive to eradicate polio.

Summary of newly-reported viruses this week: Afghanistan – one wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) from an acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) case and one WPV1 from an environmental sample; Pakistan – two WPV1s from environmental samples. See country-specific sections below for more information.