UN brands polio outbreak in Syria and Iraq "most demanding in history"

Syrian refugee Mohammed Sammor is vaccinated against polio at a clinic in Lebanon. The UN fears the illness could spread. Photograph: Bilal Hussein/AP

A UN agency has described the reappearance of polio in Syria and Iraq as probably “the most demanding outbreak in the historical past of polio eradication” and repeated warnings that the virus could spread across the Middle East.

In accordance to the UN relief and operates agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA), 25 confirmed situations of wild poliovirus kind 1 (WPV1) have been reported by the Syrian government given that final yr, while Iraq confirmed its very first WPV1 situation earlier this week.

The Iraqi situation, located in a 6-month-outdated unvaccinated little one in Baghdad, has raised fears that the virus could currently be spilling above the borders of conflict-torn Syria.

“The existing polio outbreak in Syria – now with 1 confirmed case in Iraq – is arguably the most challenging outbreak in the background of polio eradication,” said a UNRWA spokesman.

“Seriously damaged health infrastructure, poor wellness accessibility and utilisation simply because of insecurity within Syria, and huge movements of vulnerable and at-risk populations in and out of Syria – all make controlling the outbreak and rendering health protection to Palestine refugees in Syria and across the area very demanding.”

The exact same factors, he added, made it tough to ensure 100% immunisation coverage and to maintain the cold chain essential to shield vaccines from heat.

The UNRWA is component of the group, led by the Planet Wellness Organisation (WHO) and Unicef, that has fought to incorporate the virus because it was detected in Syria for the 1st time in 14 years final October. Right up until this week, Iraq had not reported a situation since 2000.

In the five months considering that polio was confirmed, a lot more than 22 million youngsters in 7 nations – Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Iraq, Egypt and Palestine – have been vaccinated as part of the biggest vaccination campaign in the background of the Middle East.

“Considering that we acquired the confirmation of the outbreak at the end of October final yr, the response was as fast as possible,” said Juliette Touma, a spokeswoman for Unicef.

“Have we reached every single kid we wished to reach? The answer is no, we have not, and this is largely simply because of entry restrictions. The severity of the conflict tends to make people move all the time and we have displacement on a day-to-day basis, so the capacity to control the illness is a challenge.”

The aim, said Touma, was to vaccinate children numerous instances: six instances in Syria and 3 in the wider area. But she additional that there was no way to ensure that the spread of the ailment could be arrested.

“As prolonged as we never have unhindered access inside Syria to areas that are under siege and that are hard to reach, polio will not be contained,” she explained. “We always say with polio that there’s no borders there is no checkpoints. The virus isn’t going to want a passport – it just travels.”

The WHO, which has faced allegations from some quarters that it was as well slow to react to the outbreak, is adamant it has moved as speedily as feasible.

Sona Bari, a spokeswoman for the organisation’s International Polio Eradication Initiative, mentioned the WHO had detected the virus in sewage in Egypt and Israel more than a 12 months ago and issued an global large-threat alert in spite of an absence of confirmed circumstances.

“In October [final yr], just before situations even had been confirmed in Syria – as soon as there was the initial cluster of suspected circumstances – we issued one more alert,” explained Bari. “When the instances in Syria had been confirmed, an worldwide emergency was declared and these seven nations put collectively a co-ordinated response plan to cover about 22 million kids.”

She said the WHO had been heartened by the growing numbers of kids being vaccinated in Syria, incorporating that the most recent round of vaccinations had possibly reached about 3 million young children.

Bari brushed off the criticisms of a US paediatrician who had accused the WHO of acting as well late and failing to properly vaccinate kids at threat.

“The thing to note is that neither the opposition groups nor the government is stirring these allegations about WHO,” she said. “I consider people allegations are motivated by a desire to do some thing for the young children of Syria I feel the determination is definitely laudable. [But] I consider focusing on WHO doesn’t really attain anything at all what we want to do is really all focus together on vaccinating Syrian children.”

UN brands polio outbreak in Syria and Iraq "most demanding in history"