UVRI to Lead Global Polio Elimination Efforts with New Reference Laboratory

The Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI) has been tasked with leading global efforts to eliminate polio through a new reference laboratory set to open at its Entebbe-based facility.

Prof. Pontiano Kaleebu, UVRI’s Executive Director, revealed this during the launch of activities marking the institute’s 90th anniversary today. He said scientists at the institute have already embarked on studies to better understand vaccine-derived polio, a strain linked to the weakened live virus used in the Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV).

Kaleebu said the new laboratory, once officially commissioned, will support research and innovation aimed at controlling vaccine-derived poliovirus and ultimately contribute to the global eradication of polio.

Efforts to eradicate polio have been ongoing for decades. In 1988, the World Health Assembly launched the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), a public-private partnership dedicated to wiping out the disease worldwide. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), global polio incidence has since declined by 99 percent.

Today, more than 80 percent of the world’s population lives in regions certified free of wild poliovirus. However, wild polio remains endemic in Afghanistan and Pakistan, while several countries continue to battle outbreaks of vaccine-derived poliovirus.

Uganda has not recorded an indigenous wild poliovirus case since 1996, but imported and vaccine-derived cases have occasionally emerged. In 2021, UVRI confirmed an outbreak of circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 in Kampala. Another outbreak was detected in May 2024 at an environmental surveillance site in Mbale.

Kaleebu said the new laboratory will strengthen efforts to not only protect Uganda but also contribute to ending polio globally. He noted that UVRI’s involvement in polio research dates back more than 50 years, including work in virus sequencing and studies addressing vaccine hesitancy, which was a major challenge in the 1960s.

As UVRI marks 90 years of existence, Prof. Bruce Kirenga, Principal of Makerere University College of Health Sciences, challenged the institute to move beyond identifying pathogens through research and begin developing solutions such as vaccines, diagnostic tools, and testing devices.

Polio is a highly infectious disease caused by a virus that attacks the nervous system and can lead to paralysis within hours. It spreads mainly through person-to-person contact via contaminated faecal matter, and less commonly through contaminated food or water. Although the disease primarily affects children under the age of five, health experts warn that anyone who is unvaccinated remains at risk of infection.