The World Health Organisation (WHO) Regional Director for Africa, Dr Mohamed Janabi, has called for sustained political commitment, funding and vaccination efforts to eradicate polio and protect every child across Africa.
In a message marking World Polio Day, Janabi said intensified vaccination, surveillance and rapid outbreak response remained essential to achieving a polio-free Africa.
He said polio was a preventable disease that could cause irreversible paralysis, change children’s lives and place lasting physical, emotional and financial burdens on affected families.
Janabi said Africa’s certification as free of indigenous wild poliovirus in 2020 demonstrated what could be achieved through strong leadership, collective action and sustained public health interventions.
He noted that independent assessments in 2026 confirmed the closure of poliovirus type 2 outbreaks in Burundi, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, the Republic of the Congo and Uganda.
Janabi, however, warned that the detection of poliovirus type 1 in Madagascar, following the closure of an earlier outbreak in 2025, highlighted persistent gaps in vaccination coverage.
He said more than 168 million children received at least one dose of polio vaccine between January and September 2026 through 55 vaccination campaigns in 22 African countries.
Janabi commended healthcare workers, community leaders and parents for supporting vaccination campaigns, particularly in remote communities where geographical barriers and limited access to health services hinder immunisation.
He also highlighted cross-border cooperation, noting that coordinated vaccination campaigns conducted in March across Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Namibia protected more than 10 million children.
Laboratory evidence identifying genetically linked polioviruses helped guide the joint campaigns, he said, demonstrating the importance of regional cooperation in addressing cross-border transmission and protecting vulnerable populations.
Janabi said funding constraints were forcing countries to prioritise high-risk areas, leaving other vulnerable communities without adequate protection against poliovirus transmission and potential outbreaks.
He expressed concern about continuing transmission challenges in the Lake Chad Basin and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where funding shortages threaten essential vaccination activities.
In the DRC, he said, additional vaccination rounds needed to respond to the poliovirus type 2 outbreak remained unfunded, potentially undermining progress towards the 2026 eradication targets.
Janabi said protecting children required completing all recommended vaccine doses, strengthening routine immunisation services and ensuring vaccination programmes consistently reached communities affected by conflict, displacement and geographical barriers.
He said health workers must also engage communities, listen respectfully to parents’ concerns and provide clear information to address misconceptions and build confidence in vaccination.
The WHO official said environmental surveillance, including wastewater testing, helped detect poliovirus before cases of paralysis emerged, enabling authorities to identify transmission risks and respond more quickly.
He said laboratories across the African Region tested more than 100,000 polio samples in 2025, with more than 90 per cent analysed within agreed timelines, strengthening disease surveillance.
Janabi said regional sequencing capacity had expanded from two to four laboratories, improving the timeliness of sequencing results from below 50 per cent to nearly 70 per cent last year.
He added that the accreditation of Nigeria’s Maiduguri laboratory in 2026 further strengthened regional capacity to detect poliovirus and support timely public health responses to emerging threats.
“New technologies, including Direct Detection Nanopore Sequencing, are also being piloted, with early results demonstrating potential to reduce laboratory turnaround times and accelerate outbreak response decisions,” he said.
Janabi said investments in polio surveillance and response could also strengthen countries’ ability to manage other public health emergencies, including the ongoing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
He highlighted the Regional Framework for Polio Transition and Sustainability 2026–2035, adopted by African health ministers in August, as a strategy for integrating polio expertise into national health systems.
The framework would help preserve specialised knowledge while strengthening routine immunisation, emergency preparedness and broader health system resilience across the WHO African Region, he said.
Janabi acknowledged Rotary International’s contribution to polio eradication through advocacy and community engagement. He said its campaign call, “One day, one focus: ending polio for good,” reflected their shared ambition.
He thanked Canada, the European Investment Bank, the Gates Foundation, Germany, the United Arab Emirates and the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre for supporting eradication efforts.
He also commended Global Polio Eradication Initiative partners and other donors for their contributions to vaccination, surveillance and outbreak response activities across Africa.
Janabi called on governments to sustain political leadership and increase domestic investment in polio eradication, while urging international partners to provide predictable funding for vaccination and surveillance programmes.
He said WHO would continue working with governments and communities to strengthen vaccination, improve disease surveillance and ensure rapid responses whenever poliovirus transmission was detected.
Janabi said eradication remained achievable but required sustained financing, accountability, political commitment and urgent action to protect progress and secure a polio-free future for every African child.
