SEATTLE — Health officials are planning for complete polio eradication by 2018. Currently, the deadly disease has been eradicated in all but two countries, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
“Recognizing both the epidemiological opportunity and the significant risks of potential failure, the new Polio Eradication and Endgame Strategic Plan 2013-2018 has been developed, in consultation with polio-affected countries, stakeholders, donors, partners and national and international advisory bodies,” states a fact sheet on the World Health Organization website.
“The new Plan was presented at a Global Vaccine Summit in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, at the end of April 2013. It is the first plan to eradicate all types of polio disease simultaneously – both due to wild poliovirus and due to vaccine-derived polioviruses.”
Polio is a highly infectious viral disease that is most dangerous to small children under five years of age. In severe cases, it can cause permanent paralysis.
While there is no cure for polio, Dr. Jonas Salk created a vaccine that was introduced to the public in 1955. Since then, the number of polio cases has dramatically decreased – from 1988 to present, polio rates have dropped by 99 percent.
Nigeria is a recent success story. In 2012 the country eradicated the disease from its country through immunization campaigns and increased public awareness.
In Afghanistan and Pakistan, however health officials continue to report polio cases. There are several cited reasons for this including–political unrest, poor health infrastructure and government negligence.
A significant contributor to people refusing or being denied the polio vaccination is the Taliban’s influence in the area. Several Taliban factions have launched anti-polio campaigns claiming the vaccination is “un-Islamic” or a Western plot to sterilize Muslim populations. There have also been incidents of violence towards people distributing vaccinations in attempt to deter foreigners from helping vaccinate the region.
But without worldwide polio eradication, no one is safe from the disease. “Failure to stop polio in these last remaining areas could result in as many as 200,000 new cases every year, within 10 years, all over the world,” according to the World Health Organization.
And likewise, the entire world would benefit from total polio eradication. “Economic modeling has found that the eradication of polio would save at least US$ 40–50 billion over the next 20 years, mostly in low-income countries,” WHO states. “Most importantly, success will mean that no child will ever again suffer the terrible effects of lifelong polio-paralysis.
If polio is indeed eradicated, it will be the second disease in history to be wiped from the planet–the first being smallpox.
Sources: WHO 1, PBS, WHO 2, WHO 3, RFERL
Photo: New York Times