Improving Surveillance to End Polio Transmission

The overall goal of this project is to stop the spread of polio virus in Pakistan where the vast majority of the remaining cases of polio occur. It is implemented by the World Health Organization which along with the Government of Pakistan and UNICEF spearheads the Pakistan Polio Eradication Initiative. This initiative works across Pakistan to improve detection and tracking of polio improve monitoring of all polio eradication activities and enhance vaccination checkpoints which vaccinate people travelling between districts provinces and at international boundaries. In addition to national level efforts the project works in Balochistan and Sindh provinces to scale up an innovative approach called Continuous Community Protected Vaccination which hires community vaccinators living in areas at high risk of contracting polio to vaccinate children and identify those missed by immunization drives.

The expected intermediate outcomes for this project include: (1) increased population immunity to sufficient levels to interrupt transmission of polioviruses; and (2) surveillance system with capacity to detect all potential polioviruses.