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- Dr Jamal Ahmed appointed WHO Director for Polio Eradication and Chair of GPEI Strategy Committee – Dr Ahmed is a long-time polio eradicator, having served since 2022 as Coordinator of WHO’s Africa Regional Office (AFRO) Polio Eradication Programme, based in Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo. Prior to that, he worked for WHO’s polio eradication programme in Geneva as Team Lead for Surveillance, Lab and Data, and as Chair of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative’s (GPEI) Surveillance Group. He has also served in the WHO Pakistan Country Office as Coordinator of the Polio Team and as the lead for the Risk Assessment and Decision Support Unit. Dr Ahmed takes over this critical role in the polio eradication programme, following the sudden and tragic passing of previous director Aidan O’Leary in August 2024. His notable expertise and experience, in particular at regional and country level, will be crucial in helping drive the partnership towards successful implementation of its strategies, to secure a lasting world free of all forms of poliovirus. More.
- International Women’s Day – global polio partners continue to celebrate the critical role women play in overcoming barriers to safeguarding children’s health. WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean Dr Hanan Balkhy became the latest GPEI Gender Champion, and called on governments, donors and partners to invest in gender equity in an op-ed published in Arab News.
- Polio at EIB Group Forum 2025: last week, at the European Investment Bank (EIB) Group Forum in Luxembourg, Ted Chaiban (Deputy Executive Director, UNICEF), Mike Ryan (Deputy Director General, WHO), Sania Nishtar (CEO, Gavi) and Thomas Östros (Vice President, EIB) took part in a panel on global health partnerships, including the GPEI, and their value in overcoming barriers in global health. Immediately afterwards, a dedicated session on polio featured remarks from WHO, UNICEF and Gates Foundation leadership.
- Expert groups convene on polio eradication. The Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on immunization (SAGE) is meeting this week at WHO in Geneva, following last week’s meeting of the IHR Emergency Committee on Polio Eradication (IHR EC). Among a wide range of immunization topics, SAGE is expected to review the global poliovirus epidemiology and current status of bivalent OPV cessation planning and preferred routine immunization schedule with whole-cell pertussis hexavalent vaccine; while the IHR EC reviewed latest international detections of WPVs and cVDPVs. The reports from both meetings will be published over the coming weeks.
- Breakthrough in next-generation polio vaccines: researchers have taken a major step towards producing a more affordable and lower-risk polio vaccine using virus-like particles (VLPs). Such new technologies could make for ideal tools especially for the post-eradication era, with the aim of having cost-effective vaccines available in an equitable manner. More.
Summary of new polioviruses this week, cases and positive environmental isolates:
- Pakistan: 18 WPV1-positive environmental samples
- Chad: three cVDPV2 cases and three cVDPV2-positive environmental samples
- DR Congo: one cVDPV2 case
- Nigeria: three cVDPV2 cases
- Occupied Palestinian territory: three cVDPV2-positive environmental samples
- Tanzania: two cVDPV2-positive environmental samples