Junaisa, 3, from Lanao del Sur, is a very playful girl who can always be seen running around in the neighborhood. But one day, she was different. She could hardly stand up and she suddenly slumped down on to the ground.
Noticing this, her parents brought her to a hospital. Junaisa’s laboratory results showed that she contracted polio, a highly infectious, crippling and sometimes fatal disease that can be avoided with a vaccine. Children under the age of five are particularly vulnerable. The disease remains endemic in only two countries—Afghanistan and Pakistan—and when it is eradicated there, polio will only be the second disease to be completely eradicated.
This incident on September 19, 2019 was recounted by Dr. Rabindra Abeyasinghe, World Health Organization (WHO) Representative to the Philippines, during the special press briefing of the Department of Health (DOH), together with the WHO, United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef), and other partners on June 11.
Dr. Abeyasinghe said Junaisa was the first polio case to be reported two decades after the eradication of polio was announced in the Philippines and Western Pacific Region.
End of polio outbreak in the Philippines
“Today is a very happy occasion. We are formally celebrating the end of the polio outbreak that has affected the Philippines for more than 600 days. This is indeed a happy occasion for multiple reasons,” Dr. Abeyangsinghe said.
While the WHO and Unicef lauded the DOH and other government agencies, partners and civil society efforts to end the polio outbreak in the Philippines, Dr. Abeyansinghe lamented that “for many of you, you have forgotten that a polio outbreak is a public health emergency of international concern because it was overshadowed by another public health emergency of international concern, the Covid -19 pandemic.
“And we salute all of you who have made this possible during this extremely challenging period by your commitment and dedication to achieve the closure of this outbreak,” he added.
He noted that the case of Junaisa was a “setback” for public health in the Philippines, “but also the whole world, because until polio is eradicated from every country, no country is safe.”
“The polio outbreak response has been tremendous. The DOH quickly launched decisive and sustained efforts to respond to the outbreak. It was a massive logistical undertaking. Thus began the country’s long and arduous journey to protect every child from the crippling and possibly life-threatening disease of polio,” he added.
Polio response
Dr. Abeyasinghe highlighted the efforts of the country after recording a new polio case—30 million doses of oral polio vaccines were administered; 11 million children were vaccinated with many receiving multiple doses; 13 vaccination campaign rounds were conducted subnationally: 755 environmental samples were analyzed from 42 sites across all three island groups of the Philippines; and 5,155 polio surveillance samples were tested from the entire country.
The response lasted for 600 days, he said.
“This is a testament of the tremendous work that has been undertaken to close this polio outbreak, while also responding to the Covid- 19 pandemic. Globally, the Philippines is one of the first countries to resume polio campaigns, during the pandemic, and especially during community transmission of Covid-19,” he said citing the other challenges during the response, including typhoons, flooding, impending measles outbreak, and volcanic eruption.
“The Philippines has emerged as an inspiration to the world that with leaders, caring for children, determination, strong leadership, and a focus on a shared goal solving seemingly insurmountable challenge, can turn into a remarkable achievement,” the WHO official said.
Supplemental immunization campaign
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said that the activities for polio supplemental immunization campaign were concluded last March 31, 2021.
Vergeire said that the coverage for the supplemental immunization against polio reached 87.3 percent of the targeted population. “This level of coverage is an outstanding accomplishment for the country in combating polio, and this was truly recognized by the World Health Organization,” she said.
Meanwhile, Unicef supported the DOH, through vaccine procurement and delivery, development of immunization guidelines, social mobilization, engaging community members and influencers, and building the capacity of the agency and staff members of the local government units nationwide to plan and ensure that no child was missed.
“The success of the polio immunization in the Philippines is proof that when we come together for children, great things happen. Unicef celebrates all the vaccine champions and partners who made this possible. We must keep the momentum and accelerate routine immunization and safeguard essential child health services while rolling out Covid-19 vaccines for priority groups,” Unicef Philippines Representative Oyunsaikhan Dendevnorov says.
Aside from WHO and Unicef, other core partners of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative—Rotary International, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance—also supported the Philippine polio outbreak response.
WHO has outlined recommendations to the DOH to ensure systems are in place to protect the gains from the polio outbreak response.
These include giving high priority to quality poliovirus surveillance; developing quarterly surveillance desk reviews between DOH and WHO; protecting human resources involved in immunization; regular reporting to WHO on human resource deployment, vaccine procurement and surveillance performance; developing best practices manual for field level users; and updating material inventories.