Polio Outbreak Investigation and Response in Somalia, 2013

For >2 decades, conflicts and recurrent natural disasters have maintained Somalia in a chronic humanitarian crisis. For nearly 5 years, 1 million children 6 years (the last case was reported in March 2007). Somalia interrupted indigenous WPV transmission in 2002, was removed from the list of polio-endemic countries a year later, and has since demonstrated its ability to control polio outbreaks resulting from importation. This outbreak reiterates that the threat of large polio outbreaks resulting from WPV importation will remain constant unless polio transmission is interrupted in the remaining polio-endemic countries.