By Adama Makasuba
The Ministry of Health in The Gambia has officially declared a poliovirus outbreak and will soon commence a vaccination campaign targeting children between 0 and 59 months. The virus has been confirmed in Tallinding Daru Salam, Kotu, and Banjul through environmental surveillance, regular sewage sample collection, and traditional surveillance for polio (Acute Flaccid Paralysis—AFP).
Sewage samples are collected every two weeks from the locations above and sent to the regional polio laboratory in Dakar for testing. In February 2024, a sample from the Banjul sewage system tested positive for circulating Vaccine-Derived Poliovirus (cVDPV), which is genetically linked to a virus in Guinea Conakry by 99.9%. In line with the World Health Organization’s declaration of polio eradication in Africa, this single positive case is considered an outbreak.
The Ministry of Health has informed its Global Polio Eradication Initiative partners, such as UNICEF and WHO, about the outbreak. While no human cases of paralytic polio have been reported, the ministry underlines the critical importance of routine vaccination. Two large-scale vaccination rounds for children between 0 and 59 months are planned to address the situation. The objective is to vaccinate all children in The Gambia, and the ministry urges parents and caregivers to continue with routine vaccination and support the ongoing vaccination campaigns to end the outbreak at the earliest opportunity.
