BY GRACE AUKA-SALMANG

No new polio cases have been reported in the past seven months, says the World Health Organisation.

This means that only 26 confirmed cases have been confirmed since the outbreak nationwide in June last year.

World Health Organisation country representative Dr Luo Dapeng said this when revealed the conclusion of an assessment done by an international team of experts who visited recently.

It found that PNG had made great progress in stopping the transmission of polio since its outbreak.

“This is a huge achievement for us all.

“I congratulate the government of PNG, led by the health department and all other provincial health agencies for this achievement.

“Together with all the support from our partners and donors, we have successfully reached 3.3 million children under 15 years of age with the polio vaccine,” Dr Dapeng said.

He said the work was not yet done because they needed to continue to work together to ensure every child was immunised. Outbreaks could happen when many children remained without vaccination, he added.

“This was the underlying cause of the polio outbreak we are experiencing,” Dr Dapeng said, adding he was optimistic that if everyone worked together, they would be able to support the Government in reaching every child with lifesaving vaccines in every part of PNG.

Dr Dapeng thanked international partners, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, Rotary International, the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention, UNICEF, the Bill Gates Foundation, the governments of Australia, Canada, Republic of Korea, United Kingdom, and USA for their support including financial assistance.

He also thanked the national partners in helping in the local level campaigns from flying helicopters and sea planes to help spread the message in communities.