The Global Polio Eradication Initiative
Launch
In 1988, the 41st World Health Assembly, consisting then of delegates
from 166 Member States, launched a global initiative to eradicate polio
by the end of the year 2000. This followed the successful eradication
of smallpox in 1979 and progress during the 1980s towards elimination
of the poliovirus in the Americas, as well as Rotary International's
commitment to raise funds for polio eradication.
Progress
In 12 years since the Global Polio Eradication Initiative was launched,
the number of cases has fallen by more than 95 per cent from an estimated
350 000 cases; the number of polio infected countries has fallen from
125 to 30 at the end of 1999. In 1994, the Americas were certified polio-free.
Polio is gone from the WHO Western Pacific region, which includes China,
and the WHO European region. Widely endemic on five continents in 1988,
polio is now concentrated only in parts of sub-Saharan Africa and the
Indian sub-continent.
Strategies
The eradication of polio requires a programme of work ranging from massive
immunization activities to aggressive laboratory containment of poliovirus
stocks. In order to realize the full humanitarian and economic benefits
of polio eradication, the programme also extends to international consensus
building of future immunization policy.
There are five main categories of activities necessary to realize polio's
eradication, the global certification target of 2005, and eventual cessation
of polio immunization.
- Conduct effective and high-quality national immunization days (NIDs)
and mop-up campaigns to interrupt wild poliovirus transmission
- Develop and sustain certification-standard surveillance and laboratory
systems that can rapidly identify polio-infected areas
- Ensure laboratory containment of wild poliovirus stocks
- Develop a consensus strategy to stop polio immunization after certification
of eradication
- Use polio eradication to strengthen and expand routine immunization
services
Immunization and high quality surveillance need to continue for a number
of years after the last polio case has been detected before a region
can be certified polio-free. Laboratory stocks must be contained before
the world can be certified polio-free.
The target date for certification of the world as polio-free is 2005
Coalition
The Global Polio Eradication Initiative is spearheaded by WHO, Rotary
International, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).
This coalition also includes national governments; private foundations
(e.g. United Nations Foundation, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation);
development banks (e.g. World Bank); donor governments (e.g. Australia,
Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands,
Portugal, United Kingdom and United States of America); humanitarian
organizations (e.g. the International Red Cross and Red Crescent movement)
and corporate partners (e.g. Aventis Pasteur, De Beers). Volunteers
in developing countries also play a key role; ten million have participated
in mass immunization campaigns.
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