MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
“World closer than ever to wipe out polio, but no victory declaration yet”
The world is closer than ever to being able to wipe out polio, international experts said, with zero cases of the crippling disease recorded across all of Africa this year and fewer than 25 globally. Read full article
Comments
Disclaimer & comment rulesThe WHO have done a great job,
May 02nd, 2015 - 06:43 pm - Link - Report abuse 0keep up the good work for the benefit of mankind,
This would have been gone shortly after the year 2000 if not for antivaxxers.
May 02nd, 2015 - 10:13 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Thanks for setting back the course of human progress, retards.
I hope you die a painful death from an easily preventable illness.
To End Polio - A Rotary Initiative - 1985
May 03rd, 2015 - 12:09 am - Link - Report abuse 0During a speech to Rotary leaders in February 1985, then Rotary President Dr. Carlos Canseco announced what he considered “the biggest news in Rotary” — the commitment to help control polio worldwide.
Since that day, Rotary’s dedication to the global eradication of polio has remained constant. 2015 marks the 30th anniversary of PolioPlus and three decades of progress and challenges the program has faced.
Though the PolioPlus program started in 1985, Rotary began the fight against polio much earlier. In 1979 Rotary members began a multiyear program that immunized more than 6 million children in the Philippines against polio (Rotary.org).
Polio eradication became a top priority to Rotary after urging from Canseco, Dr. John Sever and Dr. Albert Sabin. Sever, a Rotary club leader, was the head of the infectious diseases branch of the National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Diseases and Stroke at the National Institutes of Health. As the developer of the oral polio vaccine, Sabin gave the program a globally respected figure.
In its early years, PolioPlus was dedicated to fundraising for immunization efforts. In May 1988 Rotary announced that the campaign, which aimed to raise $120 million, had raised nearly $220 million in contributions and pledges. That same year, the World Health Assembly set a goal of worldwide polio eradication and launched the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) with Rotary as one of its partners. At the time, polio paralyzed more than 1,000 children worldwide every day and 125 countries were polio-endemic.
The GPEI partners, which also included WHO, UNICEF, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, were able to boost world immunization levels from less than 50 percent in 1985 to over 80 percent in 1992. Just five years after the GPEI was founded, the 500 millionth child was immunized against polio. To further efforts, Rotary started the PolioPlus Partners program in 1995.
@2. In Pakistan and Afghanistan, the Taliban has issued fatwas against polio vaccination. Isn't that a good idea? The 'enemy' choosing to inflict diseases on potential recruits. Why would we want to stop an enemy castrating itself? Think it through! Think about the diseases that have been 'eradicated' and how good it would be if only Al Qaeda and associates, the Taliban, Boko Haram, Hamas, Hezbollah, the Russians and the Chinese got them!
May 03rd, 2015 - 12:16 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Commenting for this story is now closed.
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