Ghana closes type 2 poliovirus outbreak, health service announces
Ghana has officially closed its type 2 poliovirus outbreak, the Ghana Health Service announced on World Polio Day, after outbreak response assessments confirmed the virus was no longer circulating.
Ghana has officially closed its type 2 poliovirus outbreak, the Ghana Health Service (GHS) has announced.
The outbreak was formally closed in August 2026 after Outbreak Response Assessments (OBRA), the technical process used to verify that an outbreak has been brought under control, the GHS said in a statement issued on Saturday to mark World Polio Day.
The achievement was made in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and international partners including the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, Gavi, Rotary International and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Ghana joins Burundi, Guinea-Bissau, the Republic of Congo and Uganda, which also closed their type 2 poliovirus outbreaks in August 2026.
The GHS said the achievement reflected sustained investment in routine immunisation, supplementary vaccination campaigns, outbreak response and community engagement. Immunisation coverage has remained above 95 per cent since Ghana introduced the Inactivated Polio Vaccine (IPV) in 2018 and added a second dose in 2024.
The statement, signed by GHS Director-General Dr Samuel Kaba Akoriyea, stressed that the gains must be sustained through active surveillance and continued vaccination. “A polio case anywhere is a polio case everywhere,” it said.
This year’s World Polio Day is marked under the theme “One Day, One Focus: Ending Polio for Good”.
Sources
- Ghana News Agency, “World Polio Day: Ghana closes type 2 poliovirus outbreak” — https://gna.org.gh/2026/10/world-polio-day-ghana-closes-type-2-poliovirus-outbreak/
- Adom Online, “Ghana Health Service declares type 2 poliovirus outbreak over after successful response” — https://www.adomonline.com/ghana-health-service-declares-type-2-poliovirus-outbreak-over-after-successful-response/
- 3News, “Our strategies have ensured absence of endemic polio cases in the country - GHS” — https://3news.com/news/our-strategies-have-ensured-the-absence-of-endemic-polio-cases-in-the-country-ghs
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