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Embargo: 15 January 2004; 15.30hrs GMT
Location: Geneva, Switzerland
“We
Will Finish Polio Before Year’s End,” say Ministers of Health
Unique
Opportunity for Eradication Success Now Rests with Key Governments
Polio
should be relegated to the history books within the next twelve months,
Ministers of Health from the six remaining polio-endemic countries
declared today at a high-level meeting in Geneva. The Ministers unveiled
a bold new plan to immunize 250 million children multiple times during a
series of massive polio immunization campaigns in 2004.
Data
presented from Afghanistan, Egypt, India, Niger Nigeria and Pakistan,
show poliovirus beaten back to only a few remaining reservoirs. These
data, and the introduction of aggressive new programmes, present an
unprecedented opportunity to eradicate a disease that once paralyzed
hundreds of thousands of children each year.
After an
international investment of US$ three billion over 15 years, and the
successful engagement of over 200 countries and 20 million volunteers,
polio could be the first disease of the 21st century to be
eradicated. Health ministers in Geneva noted that the success or failure
of the world’s largest public health initiative, spearheaded by national
governments, the World Health Organization (WHO), Rotary International,
the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and UNICEF, now
rests with the governments of the six endemic countries. Polio
transmission levels are now at their lowest ever in the key countries of
India, Pakistan and Egypt, providing these governments with a rare
opportunity to halting spread of the virus. The first milestone in 2004
toward global polio eradication may well come from Egypt, according to
epidemiologist, followed closely by India.
Nigeria is
currently the greatest risk to global eradication. In late 2003,
immunization activities against polio were brought to a halt in the
state of Kano, the last major polio reservoir in Africa, because of
unfounded rumours which suggested that the polio vaccine was not safe.
With immunization activities stalled in Kano and polio campaigns of a
sub-optimal quality in other northern states, polio was able to creep
back across Nigeria and spread into the previously polo-free countries
Cameroon, Chad, and through Niger, into Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana and
Togo, putting 15 million children at risk and necessitating a massive
immunization campaign across west and central Africa.
The
Nigerian Minister of Health, Professor Eyitayo Lambo, outlined the steps
his country will take to “dramatically” improve polio campaigns in the
first half of 2004, particularly in the northern states where the virus
continues to circulate widely. He said: “We will work together as one
federal and state governments, religious and traditional leaders,
Christians and Muslims – to reach every child with the polio vaccine. It
is the responsibility of every Nigerian to ensure polio is eliminated
from every area, north and south, of our great country. Nigeria is
determined to break the chains of polio transmission for the sake of our
children, our neighbours’ children, and the children of the world.”
Speaking
from Delhi, Ms Sushma Swaraj, India’s Minister of Health, said: “Polio
eradication is a tremendous challenge in a vast, densely populated
country like India. But in 2003, we have shown the world we have the
capacity, resources, and most importantly, the will, to vanquish this
devastating disease.” The Minister referred to preliminary data from
2003, showing a 84 percent reduction in polio cases there compared with
2002.
She
continued: “We have a unique window of opportunity in which to end polio
forever. We will seize this opportunity by reaching each and every child
with vaccine, particularly in western Uttar Pradesh and any other corner
of India where transmission has not been stopped. Here is no room in
India’s future for polio.”
The year
2003 also demonstrated the serious risks at play in the world’s final
push to eradicate polio. In 2003, funding shortfalls required most
polio-free countries to stop their polio immunization campaigns, thereby
leaving millions of children more vulnerable to poliovirus infections
from endemic countries, underscoring the urgency of interrupting
poliovirus transmission in the six remaining endemic countries.
The
Ministers concurred on an all-out effort to reach every child with the
polio vaccine from early in 2004, particularly in Nigeria, India and
Pakistan, which together account for more than 95 percent of all polio
cases worldwide. Within these three countries, transmission of
poliovirus is further confined to “polio hotspots,” especially in five
states and provinces (Kano in Nigeria, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in India
and North West Frontier Province and Sindh in Pakistan) that together
are linked to more than 75 percent of all new cases worldwide in 2003.
To fully
implement the bold eradication plans outlined by the Ministers of Health
requires the continued generous support of public and private donors.
The Global
Polio Eradication Initiative is spearheaded by WHO, Rotary
International, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and
UNICEF. The polio eradication coalition included governments of
countries affected by polio; private foundations (e.g. United Nations
Foundation, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation); development banks (e.g.
the World Bank); donor governments (e.g. Australia, Austria, Belgium,
Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg,
the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, the United Kingdom and the United
States of America); the European Commission; humanitarian and
nongovernmental organizations (e.g. the International Red Cross and Red
Crescent societies) and corporate partners (e.g. Aventis Pasteur, De
Beers).
For
further information, pleas contact:
Melissa
Corkum, WHO/Geneva, tel. +41 22 791 2765,
corkumm@who.int
Oliver
Rosenbauer, WHO/Geneva, tel. +41 22 791 38320
rosenbauero@who.int
Vivian
Fiore, Rotary Int’l/Chicago, tel. +1 847 866 3234,
fiorev@rotaryintl.org
Steve
Stewart, CDC/Atlanta, tel. +1 404 639 8327,
znc4@cdc.gov
Claire
Hajaj, UNICEF/New York, (1-212)326-7566,
chajaj@unicef.org
Kate
Donovan, UNICEF/New York (1-212)326-7452,
kdonovan@unicef.org
For
further information on the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, pleas
see
www.polioeradication.org, Rotary International’s PolioPlus site at
http://www.rotary.org/foundation/polioplus/,
www.cdc.gov, or the polio site on
www.unicef.org/polio |
