Investing to #EndPolio will create a healthier world for all
The collective efforts and sustained commitments to reach every child with polio vaccines will enable Senegal to end polio for good
Over the last three decades, UNICEF and partners of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) has helped reduce the global polio burden by 99.9%, thanks to the tireless efforts of frontline workers, communities, local governments, and global partners.
Since eradication efforts began in 1988, the GPEI has helped prevent an estimated 20 million children from paralysis by reducing polio infections and transmission through vaccination activities.
Despite this progress, serious challenges to achieving wild polio virus eradication and stopping all forms of polio remain. Simultaneously, unexpected global spread of the virus this year has reminded the world that until polio is eradicated, it will remain a threat to people everywhere.
Poor campaign quality and vaccines refusals arising from misinformation and community fatigue are some of the persistent challenges to reaching children in high-risk areas for polio transmission. These challenges contribute to continued outbreaks of variant poliovirus (circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus [cVDPV]), which can emerge in under- or unimmunized communities.
Senegal reported 29 cases of circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus in 2021. In response, the country and its partners conducted a series of national immunization campaigns that aimed to reach all children under five years.
Along with other partners of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, UNICEF supported the communication and the management of the polio immunization campaign with the new oral vaccine (nOPV2) especially in Dakar and Diourbel, where more than 80% of the circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus cases (cVDPV2) were reported.
GPEI partners have deployed an additional tool – type 2 novel oral polio vaccine (nOPV2) – to help stop variant poliovirus outbreaks (cVDPVs) more sustainably. nOPV2 is a next-generation version of the existing Sabing strain type 2 monovalent OPV (mOPV2). Clinical trials of nOPV2 have shown it is safe and effective in immunizing against non-wild variant type 2 polio while being more genetically stable, which should decrease the likelihood of variant emergence in low immunity settings.
As of July 2022, close to 500 million doses of nOPV2 have been administered in 21 countries – including Benin, Cameroon, CAR, Chad, Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, DRC, Djibouti, Egypt, Ethiopia, The Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mauritania, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tajikistan and Uganda.
A social worker and a nurse pose for a portrait, in the Ahmadou Bamba M'Bakhane Diop School, in the Point E neighborhood of Dakar, during a polio vaccination campaign, in Senegal.
A member of UNICEF tries to comfort a child at the Ahmadou Bamba M'Bakhane Diop School, in the Point E district of Dakar, during a vaccination campaign.
A social worker shows the polio vaccine at the Ahmadou Bamba M'Bakhane Diop School, in the Point E district of Dakar, during a vaccination campaign
Children at Ahmadou Bamba M'Bakhane Diop School, in the Point E neighborhood of Dakar, are marked with felt tip pens, after receiving the polio vaccine from social workers
Edouard Thomas, Secretary General of the National Association of the Motor Disabled in Senegal, poses for a portrait, in the department of Dakar
Kadjatou Ba and her child get vaccinated by social workers and UNICEF members, on a pirogue, before she goes to the island of Ngor, in Dakar
Ndeye Astou Ndiaye, a social worker and trainee pharmacist, poses for a portrait in the district of Ngor, in Dakar, during the polio vaccination campaign in Senegal
Social workers and members of UNICEF go door-to-door to vaccinate children, in the Ngor neighborhood of Dakar, Senegal
A child gets vaccinated in the district of Ngor, in Dakar, during the polio vaccination campaign in Senegal
A young blogger within the Social Change Factory poses for a portrait. The bloggers are participating via social networks to raise awareness amongst the population in Dakar, during the polio vaccination campaign.
To build trust in vaccines among parents and caregivers and combat misinformation, UNICEF and partners are engaging with local influencers, traditional and religious leaders, young people, polio survivors, educators, health care institutions and providers, and the media to provide credible, timely information
