Polio is a highly infectious disease caused by a virus. It invades the nervous system, and can cause total paralysis in a matter of hours. The virus enters the body through the mouth and multiplies in the intestine. Initial symptoms are fever, fatigue, headache, vomiting, stiffness in the neck and pain in the limbs. One in 200 infections leads to irreversible paralysis (usually in the legs). Among those paralysed, 5% to 10% die when their breathing muscles become immobilized.
People most at risk
Polio mainly affects children under five years of age.
Prevention
There is no cure for polio, it can only be prevented. Polio vaccine, given multiple times, can protect a child for life.
Global caseload
Polio cases have decreased by over 99% since 1988, from an estimated 350 000 cases in more than 125 endemic countries then, to 650 reported cases in 2011. In 2012, only parts of three countries in the world remain endemic for the disease–the smallest geographic area in history–and case numbers of wild poliovirus type 3 are down to lowest-ever levels.
Key facts
- Polio (poliomyelitis) mainly affects children under five years of age.
- One in 200 infections leads to irreversible paralysis. Among those paralysed, 5% to 10% die when their breathing muscles become immobilized.
- Polio cases have decreased by over 99% since 1988, from an
estimated 350 000 cases then, to 650 reported cases in 2011. The reduction is the result of the global effort to eradicate the disease. - In 2012, only three countries (Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan) remain polio-endemic, down from more than 125 in 1988.
- As long as a single child remains infected, children in all countries are at risk of contracting polio. Failure to eradicate polio from these last remaining strongholds could result in as many as 200 000 new cases every year, within 10 years, all over the world.
- In most countries, the global effort has expanded capacities to tackle other infectious diseases by building effective surveillance and immunization systems.
India has been polio-free for an astounding two years now. To put this in achievement in perspective, India was one of the most polio-stricken countries in the world and even as recently as 2002 most of the cases in the world were from India but by the end of 2012 it had gone almost two years polio-free. However, India shares its borders with two polio-endemic countries (Bangladesh and Pakistan) and the only way to keep the deadly disease at bay is a relentless vaccine drive.
The Global Polio Eradication Initiative
Launch
In 1988, the forty-first World Health Assembly adopted a resolution for the worldwide eradication of polio. It marked the launch of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), spearheaded by national governments, WHO, Rotary International, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), UNICEF, and supported by key partners including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. This followed the certification of the eradication of smallpox in 1980, progress during the 1980s towards elimination of the poliovirus in the Americas, and Rotary International’s commitment to raise funds to protect all children from the disease.
Progress
Overall, since the GPEI was launched, the number of cases has fallen by over 99%. In 2012, only three countries in the world remain polio-endemic: Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
In 1994, the WHO Region of the Americas was certified polio-free, followed by the WHO Western Pacific Region in 2000 and the WHO European Region in June 2002. Of the three types of wild poliovirus (type 1, type 2 and type 3), type 2 wild poliovirus transmission has been successfully stopped (since 1999).
More than 10 million people are today walking, who would otherwise have been paralysed. An estimated more than 1.5 million childhood deaths have been prevented, through the systematic administration of Vitamin A during polio immunization activities.
Opportunity and risks: an emergency approach
The strategies for polio eradication work when they are fully implemented. This is clearly demonstrated by India’s success in stopping polio in January 2011, in arguably the most technically-challenging place. However, failure to implement strategic approaches leads to ongoing transmission of the virus. Endemic transmission is continuing in Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan. 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.
Recognizing both the epidemiological opportunity and the significant risks of potential failure, the World Health Assembly in May 2012 adopted a resolution declaring the completion of polio eradication a programmatic emergency for global public health.
Subsequently, the three remaining endemic countries launched national polio emergency action plans, overseen in each case by the respective head of state, and the partner agencies of the GPEI also moved their operations to an emergency footing, working under the auspices of the Global Emergency Action Plan 2012-2013.
As of mid-2012, the impact of the emergency approaches is being seen, with the lowest number of reported cases in fewer districts of fewer countries than at any previous time.
Full financing and implementation of the Global Emergency Action Plan 2012-2013 can realistically and rapidly achieve a lasting polio-free world. But achieving success is a global responsibility, and is now a question of political and societal will.
The benefits of a polio-free world will be shared equally by all countries and peoples everywhere.
Future benefits of polio eradication
Once polio is eradicated, the world can celebrate the delivery of a major global public good that will benefit all people equally, no matter where they live. Economic modelling has found that the eradication of polio in the next five years would save at least US$ 40–50 billion, mostly in low-income countries
Source: World Health Organization
First Published: Jan 11, 2013 at 8:55 AM
This should be widely circulated in Pakistan where people are killing polio vaccine volunteers. This article should also be translated in Urdu and circulated in all Madarasas, Muslim areas etc. as some Muslims in India consider polio vaccination as anti-Islam. The polio vaccination drive undertaken by government with help of young volunteers deserves to be appreciated. Teams of volunteers keep close watch at railway platforms, toll plazas, bus stations etc . and immediately approach the families if they notice a child and ask if the dose is administered to the child. Volunteers also visit each and every household to administer the dose. The volunteers already know if there is any child in the house. This is happening both in city and rural areas. We must give encouraging pat to these dedicated volunteers.