The World Health Organisation has launched a three-day polio vaccination campaign in Yemen, targeting 1.3 million children across 12 provinces under government control.
Yemen is at high risk for poliovirus outbreaks due to the civil war, which has weakened the healthcare and water hygiene systems, the WHO has said.
“With poliovirus continuing to circulate and cases confirmed in 2025, these [vaccination] campaigns are essential to interrupt transmission and protect every child from the debilitating effects of polio,” WHO Representative in Yemen Dr Ferima Coulibaly-Zerbo said.
More than 280 cases of poliovirus have been recorded in Yemen since 2021, across 19 of the country's 22 provinces. Nearly all the cases have involved children under five years old.
The campaign is being run by the WHO, led by the Ministry of Health, with support from Unicef – the UN agency for children - and the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.
Nearly 7,000 vaccination teams, including 6,000 going door-to-door and 800 others at health care facilities, are inoculating children.
“The campaign is an important and urgent step to protect children from being paralysed by the poliovirus,” said Unicef's Representative to Yemen, Peter Hawkins.
“With confirmed cases of polio among Yemeni children, an imminent threat persists, especially for every unvaccinated child. But through vaccination we can keep our children safe.”
Yemen was polio-free for decades until 2020, but national polio immunisation coverage dropped from 58 per cent in 2022 to 46 per cent in 2023, Unicef said.
