Indonesia Declares Polio Outbreak; These Provinces Had the Highest Non-Polio Acute Flaccid Paralysis Rates in 2021

The Indonesian government has declared a Public Health Emergency (KLB) for polio following the discovery of a polio case in a 7-year-old child in Pidie Regency, Aceh Province. [link to article about polio case in Aceh]

The Ministry of Health responded immediately by planning a simultaneous polio vaccination campaign in Pidie Regency and other regencies/cities throughout Aceh Province from November 28th to December 5th, 2022.

The Directorate General of Disease Prevention and Control (DJP2P) of the Ministry of Health, in its Acute Flaccid Paralysis (AFP) surveillance assessment, targets a Non-Polio AFP Rate >2 per 100,000 children under 15 years of age per year and adequate specimen collection >80%.

If a regency/city has 500,000 children under 15, it must detect at least 10 AFP cases annually. Failure to meet this target indicates poor AFP surveillance performance, as some AFP cases may be undetected.

According to the Ministry of Health's data, the national Non-Polio AFP Rate was 1.4 per 100,000 children under 15 in 2021. This figure is below the national target of >2 per 100,000 children under 15 with adequate specimen collection >80%.

Jakarta has a Non-Polio AFP Rate of 4.4 per 100,000 children under 15, but with only 26.7% adequate specimen collection. Jambi follows with a Non-Polio AFP Rate of 3.63 per 100,000 children under 15 and 83.3% adequate specimen collection.

Bali has a Non-Polio AFP Rate of 2.86 per 100,000 children under 15, with 80% adequate specimen collection.

East Nusa Tenggara has the lowest Non-Polio AFP Rate, at only 0.28 per 100,000 children under 15, with 83.3% adequate specimen collection. Lampung follows with a Non-Polio AFP Rate of 0.42 per 100,000 children under 15 and 61.5% adequate specimen collection. Aceh's Non-Polio AFP Rate is 1.01 per 100,000 children under 15.

Note: AFP is not polio, but a symptom resembling polio. AFP is an easily identifiable symptom of paralytic poliomyelitis: paralysis in children under 15 years of age. Paralysis in AFP sufferers is flaccid and sudden (acute), and may be accompanied by other symptoms such as seizures, but not due to trauma/accident.

[link to article about full basic immunization coverage]