The WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Mohamed Janabi, raised the concern in a message marking World Polio Day 2026 on October 24, urging African governments to increase domestic funding for immunisation programmes and international partners to provide more predictable financial support.

According to Janabi, the children were reached through 55 vaccination campaign rounds conducted during the first nine months of the year. He commended health workers, community leaders and parents for helping vaccination teams reach children, including those in remote and underserved communities.

Despite the progress, he warned that inadequate financing was forcing some countries to concentrate their campaigns on areas considered most at risk, leaving other vulnerable communities without sufficient protection.

Janabi identified the Lake Chad Basin and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) as major areas of concern because poliovirus transmission remains a challenge. He disclosed that additional vaccination rounds required to respond to a type 2 poliovirus outbreak in the DRC remained unfunded, threatening progress towards the 2026 eradication targets.

He also pointed to the detection of type 1 poliovirus in Madagascar following the closure of an earlier outbreak in 2025, warning that gaps in vaccination coverage could undermine previous gains.

The WHO official said independent assessments had confirmed the closure of type 2 poliovirus outbreaks in Burundi, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, the Republic of the Congo and Uganda in 2026.

Africa’s progress against polio includes the 2020 certification of the WHO African Region as free of indigenous wild poliovirus. However, this milestone does not mean that all forms of poliovirus have been eliminated from the region. Outbreaks involving other forms of the virus continue to require vaccination campaigns, surveillance and rapid response.

Janabi stressed that reaching children during a campaign was not enough unless they received all recommended vaccine doses and had access to reliable routine immunisation services. He identified conflict, displacement, geographical barriers and concerns about vaccines as factors that can prevent children from completing their vaccination schedules.

He called for health services to be brought closer to families and for health workers to engage respectfully with parents who have questions about vaccination.

The WHO regional director also highlighted the importance of cooperation between neighbouring countries, particularly where populations move across borders and viruses can spread between communities.

He said coordinated vaccination campaigns conducted in March across Angola, the DRC and Namibia reached more than 10 million children. Laboratory evidence of genetically linked viruses helped health authorities coordinate their response.

Surveillance remains another important part of the eradication effort. Janabi reported that laboratories across the WHO African Region tested more than 100,000 polio samples in 2025, with over 90 per cent analysed within agreed timelines.

He added that the region expanded its poliovirus sequencing capacity from two laboratories to four, improving the proportion of sequencing results delivered within the required timeframe from below 50 per cent to nearly 70 per cent in 2025.

The accreditation of Nigeria’s Maiduguri laboratory in 2026 has further strengthened the region’s capacity to detect and respond to poliovirus, he said. He also highlighted Direct Detection Nanopore Sequencing, a technology being piloted in the region that could shorten laboratory turnaround times and help health authorities respond more quickly to outbreaks.

Janabi noted that investments in polio surveillance and response could also strengthen wider public health systems, including their ability to respond to emergencies such as the ongoing Ebola outbreak in the DRC.

He said African health ministers adopted the Framework for Polio Transition and Sustainability in the WHO African Region 2026–2035 during the 76th session of the WHO Regional Committee for Africa in August. The framework is intended to help countries integrate polio-related expertise and systems into their national health services while strengthening routine immunisation and emergency preparedness.

The regional director acknowledged the contributions of Rotary International and partners in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, including Canada, the European Investment Bank, the Gates Foundation, Germany, the United Arab Emirates and the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre.

He urged governments to sustain political commitment and increase domestic investment while calling on international partners to provide reliable funding for vaccination campaigns, disease surveillance and outbreak response.

Janabi reaffirmed WHO’s commitment to working with governments and communities to strengthen immunisation and improve the detection and management of outbreaks.

He warned that completing the eradication effort would require sustained financing, accountability and coordinated action to ensure that children across Africa receive the protection they need against polio.

Reporting by TalkNaijaMedia