Biography
Biography: Randa S Hamadeh
Abstract
On 8 June 2017, World Health Organization announced an outbreak of polio in the Syrian Arab Republic. As at 16 January 2018, 74 cases have been confirmed as part of the outbreak. The median age of those infected is 15 months. This is the second outbreak of poliovirus to hit Syria since the onset of its humanitarian crisis in 2011. Unlike the first wild poliovirus outbreak in 2013, the current outbreak is a result of circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type-2 (cVDPV2). Circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus can occur in rare instances when population immunity against polio is very low. In these settings, the weakened virus found in the oral polio vaccine (OPV) can spread between under-immunized individuals and over time, mutate into a virulent form that can cause paralysis. The only way to stop transmission of vaccine-delivered poliovirus is an immediate immunization response, the same as with any outbreak of wild polio. With high levels of population immunity, the virus will no longer be able to survive and the outbreak will come to close. Since confirmation of the cVDPV2 outbreak, there has been a concerted effort by outbreak response partners in conjunction with the Government of Syria and local authorities to stop transmission. WHO and UNICEF have jointly undertaken two mass vaccination rounds in affected areas. Both rounds were completed with more than 395,000 children vaccinated. In addition, targeted vaccination activities have also taken place in high risk areas of the country. The second phase of the outbreak response is currently underway. To facilitate the response, social mobilization teams have deployed to visit community leaders, pediatricians, local council workers and camp managers, and are conducting house-to-house visits to raise community awareness of the need for vaccination. Activities to strengthen surveillance for acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) – a major indicator for polio – are ongoing across the country. Contact sampling from all AFP cases continues and stool samples are being taken from healthy children arriving from known infected areas as well as form silent districts (districts that have not reported AFP cases in 2017). This situation urged neighboring countries to take immediate action. Lebanon is one of those countries most affected by the Syrian crisis due to geographical and cultural aspects that link the two countries. Lebanon, and since the onset of the Syrian crisis, has received more than 2M displaced and the displacement movement is ongoing even at a lower rate, the thing that necessitated the initiation of vaccination points at border line areas and at UNHCR registration centers in addition to ongoing national campaigns targeting 0-5 children regardless of nationality and of previous doses to maintain Lebanon polio free. Those activities became more focused nowadays targeting low coverage areas or areas of high density population where displaced has settled especially after April 2017 where bOPV was globally introduced to replace tOPV. To close, Polio is an international threat, one case of polio anywhere is polio everywhere. International communities should take immediate action toward securing more funds to guarantee vaccines availability and to channel more support to the health sector in general.