Health Alerts

There have been no new cases of circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 1 (cVDPV1) reported from Papua New Guinea (PNG) this week. So far in 2018, there have been a total of 25 cases of cVDPV1 reported. Health Authorities have established Emergency Operation Centres at a national level and in all affected provinces; environmental surveillance is functional in five sites in two major cities. Furthermore, three Supplementary Immunization Activities (SIAs) have been in place since July and have expanded from three provinces to nine, to nation-wide. The most recent was aimed at children under the age of 15, due to large numbers of poorly-immunized older children. Planning is underway for the next steps of the outbreak response, focusing on both vaccination and surveillance for polioviruses. Read More