Polio Eradication Update
As a Rotarian and contributor to Polio Plus, as well as a physician and concerned world citizen I’ve been following progress of the worldwide effort to eradicate Polio. I last posted a Polio Eradication Update in May, 2010 and the last release of the Center for Disease Control’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report gives us the latest information along with a nice editorial summary. Progress continues to be made.
The Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GEPI) was begun in 1988, with major help from Rotary International and its Polio Plus campaign, the WHO, and recently from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, this effort has saved millions of lives, prevented many millions more crippling cases of paralytic polio, and been hugely successful. That said the devil of this program is the few remaining endemic areas of Wild Polio Virus (WPV) , and exportation from these endemic areas to previously polio free regions. Here is a summary of last week’s CDC MMWR Update:
- By 2006 the indigenous transmission of wild case polio had been eliminated in all but 4 countries; Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Nigeria.
- Since 2002 39 countries which had previously been polio free have experienced outbreaks after exportation from India or Nigeria. Most of these were stopped within 6 months of confirmation.
- Angola, Chad, the Democratic Peoples Republic of Congo (DPRC) and Sudan had longer lasting outbreaks, persisting >12 months prior to 2009.
- The 2001-1012 GEPI strategic plan called for stopping WPV transmission in these countries by the end of 2010. This is felt to be on track only in Sudan.
To meet these goals is going to require some serious work ahead, but eradication of Polio does seem to be possible. We owe great thanks to all the agencies and countries involved at making progress toward a Polio free world in the not too distant future. Here is a summary of the status of polio cases in the world as of this last week from the Global Polio Eradication Initiative website.
You may also enjoy my first article on this topic:
Eradication of Polio: It’s Happening.
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