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Polio is a highly infectious
disease that can cause total paralysis in a matter of hours. It can strike at
any age, but affects mainly children under the age of three.
The Global Polio Eradication Initiative is one of the largest public health
campaigns in history. Since 1988, United States Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention; the World Health Organization; the United Nations International
Children's Fund; and Rotary International, together with scores of donor
countries and foundations have been working to eradicate polio by immunizing
every child under age 5.
Through their efforts, the disease has been eliminated from most of the world
and remains endemic in only four countries, namely Afghanistan, India, Nigeria
and Pakistan.
In mid December, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative began to use a
bivalent vaccine that protects against two types of polio. Afghanistan was the
first country to introduce this new vaccine, and others will follow that
nation's lead during coming months, marking the adoption of a major new tool in
the international effort to eradicate polio.
In his June 4th speech at Cairo University, President Obama, wishing to promote
further cooperation in the polio eradication effort and with the
Administration's general priority on global health, announced that the United
States would partner with the Organization of the Islamic Conference, or OIC,
to work to abolish polio. That partnership has begun to take shape, and
fostered a panel discussion earlier this month at UNICEF headquarters in New
York. That discussion underscored the need for re-invigorated action toward the
final eradication of polio. The OIC has already begun to secure the necessary
community-level political and religious support for polio vaccination in member
countries.
December's vaccination campaign in Afghanistan targeted some 2.8 million
children under the age of five for immunization against Polio. According to the
World Health Organization, the new vaccine is very effective against both types
of the disease still in circulation. It will be a vital tool in the fight
against this crippling disease. The U.S. will work with all partners to assure
that no child is paralyzed from a disease that can be prevented for
approximately $1 per child. Since the global program started, nearly 6 million
cases of childhood paralysis have been averted, and the number of cases,
worldwide has declined by 99 percent. The U.S. is committed to reaching the
last 1 percent of children and certifying the world polio free.
