WHO, UNICEF Declare End Of Polio Outbreak In Philippines

MANILA, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 11th Jun, 2021 ) --:The World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) hailed the Philippines on Friday for ending the polio outbreak almost two years after the highly infectious disease re-emerged in the Southeast Asian country.

In a joint statement, the UN agencies said the Philippines' Department of Health (DOH) officially stopped the polio outbreak response on June 3 this year.

"The decision came as the virus has not been detected in a child or the environment in the past 16 months," the statement read.

The agencies said comprehensive outbreak response actions, including intensified immunization and surveillance activities in affected areas of the Southeast Asian country, curbed the spread of the poliovirus.

The DOH announced a polio outbreak in the Philippines on Sept. 19, 2019, after 19 years of a polio-free status.

Since then, the Philippine government and the WHO, the UNICEF, and other partners mounted nationwide polio campaigns to stop the spread of the virus.

Despite the tremendous challenges to immunization presented by the simultaneous impact of COVID-19, the DOH had continued robust polio immunization campaigns.

In particular, the UNICEF and the WHO lauded the DOH for enhancing training and mobilizing health workers in infection prevention and control, and supplying them with personal protective equipment to enable vaccinating children in their homes and designated health centers -- "a global first in a country experiencing community transmission of COVID-19."