Update on Polio Eradication from Rotary & GPEI - Global Polio Eradication Initiative 

Follow the latest news on Rotary's efforts to eradicate polio, every week. Here is a link to the latest cases - updated every week. See the country-specific section and more details, right here at http://polioeradication.org/polio-today/polio-now/this-week/.   For the headlines. please Read more.....

Polio this week

Headlines 

 

End-of-year message from Dr Jamal Ahmed

Read an end-of-year message to all polio eradicators around the world, from Jamal Ahmed, WHO Director of Polio Eradication and Chair of the GPEI Strategy Committee.

 

UN Foundation opens latest round of Polio Press Fellowships

The UN Foundation is now accepting applications for its 2026 Polio Press Fellowship for Individual Reporting. The fellowship is geared towards journalists interested in covering stories on polio eradication. Selected journalists will receive funding to travel independently to countries at the forefront of the polio eradication effort to gather stories and interviews with polio survivors, health care workers, community members, families, and health authorities. Reporting trips must be conducted by mid-September 2026. The application deadline is January 7, 2026. Apply here

Summary of new polioviruses this week: 

  • Pakistan:  38 WPV1-positive environmental samples
  • Chad:  one cVDPV2 case and two cVDPV3 cases
  • Ethiopia:  one cVDPV2 case
  • Somalia:  one cVDPV2-positive environmental sample
  • Sudan:  five cVDPV2 cases
  • Tanzania:  two cVDPV2-positive environmental samples
  • Yemen:  four cVDPV2-positive environmental samples
 
There were 97 wild polio virus type 1 cases in 2024 Calendar Year  and  39 in the 2025 Calendar Year as of December 23, 2025: https://polioeradication.org/wild-poliovirus-count/

 

Global leaders pledge US$1.9 billion in Abu Dhabi to end polio and protect children worldwide:

International leaders, philanthropists, and global health partners announced pledges totaling US$1.9 billion to advance polio eradication at an event in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. This funding will help vaccinate 370 million children against polio each year while strengthening health systems in affected countries to protect children from other preventable diseases, too. 

Read about the pledging event HERE.

 

 

 

 

Women hold the key to ending polio:

In an opinion piece in Time magazine, Tunji Funsho, a member of the International PolioPlus Committee, explains why the leadership of women in Nigeria is critical to the final push to end polio. 

 

 

 

 

 

In November 2025, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative:
  • Vaccinated more than 42 million children, during mass vaccination campaigns in 6 countries, using approximately 50 million doses of various polio vaccines
  • Investigated more than 4,700 AFP cases in 71 countries
  • Investigated more than 700 environmental samples from 55 countries

 

World Polio Day results
 
Thank you to the 3,783 clubs, 158 districts, and 29 zones that registered World Polio Day events and activities!

From bike races to Zumba sessions to pumpkin painting, members around the world found creative ways to spread awareness and raise support for polio eradication. We also want to give a special thank-you to our members in Brazil, where more clubs registered World Polio Day events than in any other country.