Five regions declared polio-free
Published on: Thursday, May 05, 2016
CHIANG MAI: Five of the six regions of the World Health Organisation (WHO) have been certified polio-free.Rotary International President's Representative (RIPR) to the just-concluded RI 25th District 3310 Conference, Past District Governor Edgardo E. Tumangan (RI District 3810, Philippines) disclosed this in his paper on The Rotary Foundation (TRF) Funding & Polio Plus at the Conference's Plenary Session 3 held at the Empress Convention Centre, here."This is the outcome of immeasurable efforts of Rotary to mobilise the world to end polio. The move involves the governments of more than 200 countries and regions with millions of tireless, dedicated volunteers, advocates, supporters and the Polio-Plus Programme.
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"For more than 36 years, Rotary has led the world in the global effort to eradicate polio from the face of the earth. Since 1985 when Rotary launched its Polio-Plus Programme, Rotary has contributed more than $1.5 billion and countless volunteer hours to immunise more than 2.5 billion children worldwide," he told the conference.The five polio-free regions are:l WHO Region of the Americas with 35 countries/member states was certified polio-free in 1994.
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l WHO Western Pacific Region with 27 countries and member states, and home to more than one-quarter of the world's population, spanning from Australia to China, was finally certified polio-free on October 29, 2000.l WHO European Region with 53 countries/member states was certified polio-free in 2002.
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l WHO Southeast-Asia Region covers 11 countries/member states, including India. With India sustaining no new transmissions for three years, the WHO Southeast-Asia Region was certified polio-free on March 27, 2014.l WHO African Region consists of 47 countries/member states, including Nigeria. On September 25, 2015, WHO announced that polio is no longer endemic in Nigeria after transmission of wild poliovirus was interrupted by a full 12 months without any new cases.According to Edgardo, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) called this a "historic achievement" in global health "because as recently as 2012, Nigeria accounted for more than half of all polio cases worldwide.""Since then, a concerted effort by all levels of government, civil society, religious leaders, thousands of dedicated health workers and more than 200,000 volunteers across the country repeatedly immunised more than 45 million children under the age of five years to ensure that no child would suffer from this paralysing disease," he shared. "When Nigeria successfully passed full three years without a case of wild poliovirus, the African Region was officially certified polio-free."However, RI President K.R. Ravindran from India is adamant about eliminating polio from its final strongholds in Pakistan and Afghanistan, Edgardo told the conference. He (Edgardo) said these two remaining endemic countries are in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region (covering 21 countries/member states)."As of the first week of March this year, WHO reports that worldwide, the total number of wild poliovirus cases in 2016 are seven, that is, one wild poliovirus case type 1 (WPV1) in Afghanistan and six wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases in Pakistan," he added.In his conclusion, Edgardo said as long as polio exists anywhere, it's a threat to children everywhere.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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