WHO Extends Global Polio Emergency as Transmission Persists

The World Health Organization has extended the international polio emergency for another three months after finding that wild poliovirus transmission continues in Afghanistan and Pakistan and circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus remains active in several regions.

The Polio IHR Emergency Committee unanimously recommended extending the temporary recommendations, and WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus accepted that assessment on August 21, 2026. WHO published the committee’s statement on August 25. The agency separately determined that the situation does not constitute a pandemic emergency.

Transmission remains concentrated in Afghanistan and Pakistan

Wild poliovirus type 1 remains geographically confined to Afghanistan and Pakistan, the two countries where endemic transmission continues. WHO said transmission persists in critical areas including southern Afghanistan, South Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan and Karachi.

The committee reported four WPV1 cases in 2026 to date: three in Afghanistan and one in Pakistan. It also recorded 74 positive environmental samples this year, including 17 from Afghanistan and 57 from Pakistan. The figures measure different parts of the outbreak. Cases are confirmed illnesses, while environmental detections indicate that virus was found in sewage or other surveillance samples. Both figures reflect the data available for the committee’s review and are not full-year totals.

WHO said the overall trajectory of cases and environmental detections is declining in some areas, but that the decline does not yet demonstrate eradication-level programme quality. Persistent immunity gaps, uneven vaccination coverage, insecurity and missed children continue to allow transmission.

Movement across the Afghanistan-Pakistan bloc remains a risk

WHO treats Afghanistan and Pakistan as a single epidemiological bloc because the countries share transmission corridors and mobile populations. The committee cited continued movement between them, including Afghans returning from Pakistan, as a reason international spread remains possible.

WHO said the land border remains closed. To keep surveillance functioning, the polio programme established regular aerial shipment of samples from Afghanistan to the regional reference laboratory in Islamabad and is working with other laboratories to create contingency testing capacity.

Vaccination campaigns are being coordinated across the two countries, but access remains incomplete. WHO said house-to-house campaigns have not operated in Afghanistan since October 2024 because of security concerns. In South Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, an estimated 250,000 children reportedly remain unreached, primarily because of insecurity.

Vaccine-derived outbreaks continue elsewhere

The broader emergency also reflects circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus, or cVDPV. WHO reported 32 cVDPV cases and 27 environmental detections globally in 2026 as of April 30. Of the 32 cases, 28 were cVDPV2, two were cVDPV3 and two were cVDPV1. All 27 environmental detections were cVDPV2.

WHO identified continuing cVDPV2 transmission in the Lake Chad Basin, the Horn of Africa and Yemen. It also identified more than 4.5 million children under age 5 in northern Yemen as a major susceptible population where an adequate oral-polio-vaccine response has not yet been implemented because of insecurity and lack of access.

Vaccine-derived poliovirus is not the same as a vaccine failure in an individual child. These outbreaks can occur when weakened vaccine-virus strains circulate for prolonged periods in communities with low population immunity, allowing the strain to regain the ability to cause paralysis. The underlying problem is inadequate routine or outbreak vaccination coverage, often compounded by insecurity and displacement.

What the decision means for travelers

The renewed Public Health Emergency of International Concern keeps international coordination, surveillance, vaccination and laboratory measures in place. WHO’s temporary recommendations vary by virus type and by whether a country is currently infected or was infected previously, so travelers should not assume that every destination or departure point has the same requirements.

In some affected states, residents and long-term visitors may be advised or required to receive a polio vaccine dose before international travel and carry an International Certificate of Vaccination or Prophylaxis. Certain states with local transmission may also be directed to restrict international departure for residents who lack appropriate vaccination documentation.

The country lists and travel recommendations in the WHO statement are based on information available at WHO headquarters on April 30, 2026, even though the committee’s statement was issued in August. Travelers should check current WHO and public-health guidance, confirm routine vaccination records and allow time for any required documentation before leaving.

Progress has not ended the risk

WHO Africa said five countries—Burundi, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, the Republic of Congo and Uganda—recently ended type 2 polio outbreaks. The closures show that targeted vaccination and surveillance can interrupt transmission, but they do not mean the global risk has ended.

For health authorities and humanitarian agencies, the next test is reaching children and mobile populations in conflict-affected and hard-to-access areas while maintaining routine immunization and surveillance capacity. For travelers, the practical message is narrower: keep vaccinations current, check destination-specific requirements and carry documentation when public-health authorities require it.

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