DUSHANBE, April 14, 2014, Asia-Plus -- The first round of the national polio immunization campaign, which targets children under the age of 5, was launched in Tajikistan on April 14.

According to the Republican Center for Immunoprophylaxis (RCIP), the first round o the polio immunization campaign will last in the country till April 18 and the second round will be held from May 19 to May 23.

In the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO), the first round of the polio immunization campaign was held from February 24 to February 28 and the second round was held from March 1 to March 5, the source said.

“In all, the polio immunization campaign will cover 1,102,901 children across the country, except Gorno Badakhshan, where the polio immunization campaign was already held,” the source noted.

We will recall that on April 23, 2010, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced the confirmation of wild poliovirus serotype 1 (WPV1) in seven samples obtained from children with Acute Flaccid Paralysis (AFP) detected in Tajikistan in the context of a multi-district AFP cluster staring in December 2009.

Poliomyelitis (polio) was eliminated in the WHO European Region and the Region was certified polio-free in 2002.

In Tajikistan, two outbreaks of polio were reportedly registered in Tajikistan in the 1990s, with 111 and 26 cases of poliomyelitis reported to the WHO in 1991 and 1994 respectively. 

The reported vaccine coverage with three doses of OPV in Tajikistan in 2008 was 87%, which is below the WHO target of over 90%.  In 2007, the national health authorities in Tajikistan conducted an immunization campaign against polio, targeting children less than three years old in the areas bordering Afghanistan.

At the beginning of April 2010, the WHO Country Office in Tajikistan was informed of an increase in AFP cases in multiple contiguous districts.  On average, Tajikistan reports 35-40 AFP cases annually with peaks in July and October.

According to dta provided by the WHO Epidemiological Brief dated December 16, 2010, Tajikistan reported 709 cases of acute falccid paralysis (AFP) in 2010, of which 458 are laboratory-confirmed for wild poliovirus type 1, which caused a total of 29 deaths.  Cases were mainly reported from districts bordering Afghanistan and Uzbekistan.

Following the confirmation of WPV1 in Tajikistan, a three-round polio immunization campaign was carried out in the country in 2010.  According to the Ministry of Health, eight rounds of the polio immunization campaign were held in Tajikistan in 2010 and 2011.  The campaign reportedly covered 92 percent of children under the age of 5.

On November 19-29, 2012, UNICEF Country Office in Tajikistan coordinated a comprehensive review of the national immunization program.  Following a standard evaluation, framework, the review analyzed strengths and weaknesses in nine programmatic areas at national, sub-national and health facility levels.  The review emphasized the need to improve technical and management capacity at Primary Health Care (PHC) and district level. It also recommended the establishment of regular independent verification mechanisms for administrative data, and strengthening the quality of Vaccine Preventable Diseases (VPD) surveillance to avoid the recurrence of wide-scale immunity gaps revealed by the 2010 polio outbreak and 2011 serosurvey.  Establishing continuous electronic temperature monitoring at all levels is another priority due to ongoing energy shortages in the country.