Malawi has declared polio outbreak a public health emergency in the country following the confirmation of one case in the capital city, 30 years after the last case was recorded.
The declaration follows a statement released Thursday by the Global Polio Laboratory Network confirming the presence of type-1 wild poliovirus (WPV1) in a child in Lilongwe.
The virus was “genetically linked to WPV1 that was detected in Pakistan’s Sindh Province in October 2019,” the statement said.
Malawian President Lazarus Chakwera wrote on social media from Brussels, where he is attending an African Union-European Union summit, that “the first case within our borders in 30 years is a threat to our country’s status of a polio-free nation.”
Malawi was “immediately putting in place additional activities” in order to contain the situation, Health Minister Khumbize Kandodo Chiponda said in a statement.
“There will be Emergence Operations Committee (EOC) meetings, and a risk assessment of the situation will be done with support from our partners such as the WHO,’’ Chiponda in a statement, referring to the World Health Organization.
“We will also work very closely with our neighboring countries as diseases know no borders,’’ she said.
According to Chiponda, the last polio case in Malawi was reported in 1992, and the country obtained a polio-free status in 2005.
Malawi continues to provide polio vaccine that targets type-1 and type-3 poliovirus following the eradication of type-2 poliovirus many years back. (Xinhua/NAN)
