Progress Toward Poliomyelitis Eradication — Afghanistan and Pakistan, January 2013–August 2014

In 2012, the World Health Assembly declared the completion of polio eradication a programmatic emergency for global public health and called for a comprehensive polio endgame strategy. Afghanistan and Pakistan are two of the three remaining countries (the other is Nigeria) where circulation of indigenous wild poliovirus (WPV) has never been interrupted. This report updates previous reports and describes polio eradication activities and progress in Afghanistan and Pakistan during January 2013-August 2014. In Afghanistan, 14 WPV cases were reported in 2013, compared with 37 cases in 2012; nine cases were reported during January-August 2014, compared with six cases during the same period in 2013. In Pakistan, 93 WPV cases were reported in 2013, compared with 58 cases in 2012; 170 cases were reported during January-August 2014, compared with 33 cases during the same period in 2013. All WPV cases reported during January 2013-August 2014 were WPV type 1 (WPV1). Vaccination campaigns have been banned since June 2012 in specific areas in Pakistan, where an estimated 300,000 children aged