The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has declared the end of its latest Ebola outbreak, thanks in large part to the infrastructure and expertise of the national polio eradication programme. In close coordination with the Ministry of Health, the World Health Organization (WHO) deployed a multidisciplinary team of seven polio experts to Kasai Province to support surveillance, logistics, contact tracing, and community engagement in affected areas.
The WHO sub-office in Kasai, funded through polio resources, became a crucial logistical hub, enabling a rapid and coordinated response. Leveraging their experience from years of house-to-house vaccination campaigns, local polio staff mapped hard-to-reach settlements, monitored population movements, and raised awareness about Ebola prevention. As Ebola vaccinations rolled out, the presence of trained polio personnel ensured that lifesaving messages and supplies reached every at-risk community.
The DRC has made significant strides in the fight against polio over recent years. After interrupting Wild Poliovirus Type 1 transmission in Africa in 2020, the country continued to address circulating variant poliovirus types 1 and 2 through nationwide and targeted immunization campaigns, reaching over 33 million children in 2025 alone. The country’s polio strategy—anchored in enhanced environmental surveillance, rapid case investigation, and strengthened laboratory capacity—proved invaluable during the Ebola response.
Dr Aïcha Diakité, WHO Polio Team Lead in the DRC, explained, “Our trained polio teams were rapidly deployed to reinforce case investigation, contact tracing, and data management. Logisticians transported samples to national laboratories, disease surveillance officers trained local health workers, and our communication experts helped build trust in communities. The same systems that stop poliovirus were crucial in ending the Ebola outbreak, demonstrating how polio investments protect lives beyond polio.”
The impact of the polio programme is clear: detections of variant poliovirus type 1 have dropped dramatically from 107 in 2023 to 10 in 2024, and just one case so far in 2025. Dr Lusamba Kabamba, coordinator of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative in the DRC, noted, “Polio teams are deeply rooted in communities. Their knowledge of the terrain and ability to move quickly accelerates efforts to contain outbreaks and save lives.”
Polio teams were instrumental in active case finding, risk communication, and resource micro-planning, highlighting the programme’s broader legacy in supporting responses to other health emergencies across the region, from cholera to mpox. This integrated approach underscores how investments in polio infrastructure continue to bolster public health resilience across the DRC.
