Containment and Prevention of Polio in East Africa - WHO 2014

March 2014 - Varying levels of political and inter-communal violence across eastern Africa continue to cause significant displacement both within the affected countries and across national borders facilitating the unchecked spread of communicable diseases. In 2013 Somalia experienced its first polio outbreak since 2007 with cases spreading into both Kenya and Ethiopia. With support from DFATD and other donors the World Health Organization (WHO) is helping to contain the polio epidemic in eastern Africa and prevent future outbreaks through an immunization campaign and by building the response capacity of local authorities.

The expected immediate outcomes of this project include: (1) increased access to immunization against polio; (2) increased capacity of local governments to respond to outbreaks; (3) improved surveillance systems to monitor the epidemic in outbreak countries; (4) improved delivery of services to children under five years of age in outbreak countries; and (5) interrupted spread of polio in countries of re-established transmission. The expected intermediate outcome is reduced vulnerability of crisis-affected people particularly women and children.