The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared Indonesia’s polio outbreak officially over, following nearly three years of intensive response efforts, officials said.
Indonesia has remained largely polio-free as the highly-contagious disease was declared eliminated in the country in 2014. But eight years later, an outbreak emerged in the country’s conservative Aceh province, prompted by a dangerous combination of consistently low routine immunisation and unhealthy environmental conditions. In 2021, only 50.9% of infants born in Aceh received polio vaccination.
Officials say that polio immunisation rates in Aceh are well behind the rest of the country, with efforts hampered by widespread disinformation that the vaccine is incompatible with religious beliefs, among other things.
The government has also been prioritising Covid-19 vaccinations since they became available.
Over the next two years, cases appeared in the provinces of Banten, West Java, Central Java, East Java, North Maluku, Central Papua, Highland Papua and South Papua, prompting the mass immunisation and information drive. Nearly 60 million additional doses of polio vaccine were administered to children during the response.
The last confirmed polio case was in South Papua province in June 2024. Since then, no polio has been detected in children or the environment, prompting WHO to declare the outbreak over on Wednesday.
In a joint announcement on Friday, Indonesian Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin credited the success to “the dedication of health workers and the commitment of parents and communities”. — AP
