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African Health Leaders Vow
to Keep Polio Eradication
Goal
17-January-2005
Following a year in which Africa grappled with an
escalating polio epidemic, ministers of health of the key
affected countries today concluded that the spread of
polio was slowing in most countries. They agreed to
step up their vigilance and their vaccination
programmes in order to meet polio eradication targets
this year.
The 2005 eradication strategy for Africa, reviewed by
Health Ministers of eight African countries at the
World Health Organization’s headquarters in Geneva,
involves a massive series of immunization campaigns
across 25 countries, supported by strengthened polio
surveillance.
The scale-up comes in the wake of a challenging year
for the region, in which the number of African children
stricken by polio doubled to 1037 (85 per cent of the
global total). Cases began to rise during 2003 following
a suspension of polio immunization activities in parts
of Nigeria. The upswing rapidly reached epidemic
proportions, propelled by low immunization rates
across the region. The continent is further threatened by
the swift spread of the epidemic in Sudan in late 2004
and the halt of immunization activities in Côte d'Ivoire
due to civil unrest.
Some countries are still feeling the impact of the 2004
epidemic, particularly the Sudan, which went from zero
to 112 cases in the last 9 months. The Sudan outbreak,
which is a result of the spread of poliovirus originating
in Nigeria, now threatens the polio-free Horn of Africa,
the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the Gulf region
as evinced by a recent case in Saudi Arabia. Authorities
in the Sudan carried out an emergency campaign this
week, which kicked off immediately after the signing
of the North-South peace agreement.
Following resumption of polio immunization in
Nigeria’s Kano state in mid-2004, Africa held the
world’s largest series of immunization activities,
synchronized across 23 African countries, reaching 80
million children. These campaigns have begun to rein
in the epidemic. In northern Nigeria, independent
monitoring shows that nearly 75 per cent of children
were vaccinated against polio, the highest numbers ever
for the area.
Côte d'Ivoire and the Sudan, as well as Burkina Faso,
the Central African Republic and Chad now have re-
established poliovirus transmission, meaning the virus
has been circulating among the population for more than
six months. Representatives of each of these countries
attended the meeting in Geneva, together with Egypt,
Nigeria and Niger.
Despite the setbacks, all the evidence looks promising for
stopping polio transmission this year, the Ministers
stressed. Similar mass campaigns previously stopped
polio in nearly all countries across the region. Progress in
Egypt eliminated all but one type of poliovirus, paving
the way for the introduction of a new vaccine there that
targets the single remaining type.
All the year’s activities will be lead by the African
Union. At the upcoming African Union summit in Abuja
(29-30 January) the continent’s heads of state are
expected to announce a similar ramp-up of action and to
vow to increase independent monitoring of immunization
activities to ensure quality coverage.
The meeting in Geneva today was the one-year follow-up
to the Geneva Declaration on the Eradication of
Poliomyelitis, a 2004 pledge by polio-endemic countries
to intensify their activities towards eradication. The 16-
year Global Polio Eradication Initiative, a public-private
partnership, has reduced the incidence of polio across the
world by 99% since 1988. Endemic countries in Asia -
Afghanistan, India and Pakistan - will examine their
progress in a February meeting.
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 includes 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,
Russia, 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. Sanofi Pasteur, De Beers).
http://www.news-medical.net/?id=7335
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-48- Traditional African Clinic April 2009