polio news 37 en

8/4/2019 Polio News 37 En

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A Newsletter or the Global Polio Eradication Initiative by the World Health Organization in association with Rotary International,

the U.S. Centers or Disease Control and Prevention and United Nations Childrens Fund

3 Government/BMGF contributions announced

4 One child triggers Indias emergency response

5 Polio partners support Angola

8 Special tribute to Bill Sergeant

1 s t & 2 n d Q u a r t e r , 2 0 1 1 E d i t i o n ISSN 1727-3730

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Funding gap the greatest threat to eradication - oversight body

Pakistan rolls out new emergency polio plan

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2012 Milestone to stop all transmission at risk:suboptimal implementation in key countries

n its report, released on 20 April, the IndependentMonitoring Board (IMB) o the Global Polio

Eradication Initiative (GPEI) oers its assessment o theprogress towards achieving the major milestones o theGPEI Strategic Plan 2010-2012 and calls the US$ 665 millionunding gap through end-2012 the single greatest threat tothe GPEIs success.

The IMB noted considerable achievements: o 15 outbreakswith onset in 2009, all appear to have been stopped; andevidence so ar suggest that none o the new outbreaksrom 2010 has lasted more than six months.

The group concludes, however, that o the remainingendemic and re-established transmission countries, onlyIndia is on track to stop poliovirus transmission by end-2011,and that thereore, the end-2012 goal o cessation o all wildpoliovirus transmission is at risk.

The IMB expresses particular alarm at the current poliosituation in Chad, considering it a public health emergency

requiring the greatest urgency o action among allremaining polio-aected countries.

Despite these challenges, the IMB concludes that polioeradication is easible in the near term, but warns that

this goal will only be achieved with heightened attentionat all levels. The group urges countries to monitor theiremergency response plans at the highest levels ogovernment and encourages the World Health Assembly(WHA) in May to evaluate whether the persistence o polionow constitutes a global health emergency. With theeconomic case or completing polio er adication clearlyestablished, the IMB reminds the international developmentcommunity that ull nancing o the eort is a sharedresponsibility.

Established in 2010 at the request o the Executive Board oWHO and the WHA, the IMB is scheduled to meet next on30 June-1 July 2011. - Oliver Rosenbauer/WHO.n

akistan is in danger o being the worlds lastremaining reservoir o polio. The country has

already reported 33 cases in 2011, compared to a single caseeach in India and Aghanistan, and eight in Nigeria (as o26 April).

The President o Pakistan, Asi Ali Zardari, took heed o thewarning signs in 2010, and by the end o the year orderedan emergency national response plan be drated with thesupport o international partners in the polio eradicationinitiative. The resulting National Emergency Action Plan2011 (NEAP) was launched in Islamabad on January 24.The plans main ocus is to reach children in high-riskdistricts, improve access to children in insecure areas, andidentiy and reach mobile and migrant populations.

Along with access issues in conict areas, poor managementin high-risk districts leading to low quality campaigns is themost requently cited reason or continuing transmissionin Pakistan. Taking this on board, the President held an

extraordinary meeting with the top administrators o

some o the 33 high-risk districts to ensure speedy andull implementation o the plan. Cells responsible or theplans implementation will be established in all provincialchie ministers ofces, reporting to a special cell which

has been created in the Prime Ministers Ofce, allowingthe provincial leadership to take ownership o polioeradication activities. The perormance o district health andpolitical leaders in implementing the NEAP will be closelymonitored, and provincial administrations are beginning toremove or transer low-perorming district ofcials.

In line with the NEAP strategy, UNICEF is placing morecommunications sta at provincial and grassroots levels,ocusing on the highest risk union councils. These stawill acilitate the work o the vaccinators, identiying atrisk groups and increasing demand or the vaccine. Whileinsecurity may continue to hound polio eradication eortsin Pakistan, the NEAP has brought reinvigorated spirit anda ocused approach to eradication in the country, increasing

Pakistans chances o success. - Cathy Williams/UNICEF.n

Government/BMGF contributions announced - UK, Abu Dhabi. Page 3

ChristineMcNab

Failure to act now to eradicate polio will mean that more children willbe paralysed by the virus. Seven-year-old Umar Aminus right leg was

paralysed as a result o contracting the virus in 2004.

WHOPakistan

President Zardari gives polio vaccine to a child at the launch o a national

emergency plan to get the country back on track or polio eradication.


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News

ivalent oral polio vaccine, better known asbOPV, exceeded expectations in 2010. This

orm o vaccine, introduced in December 2009, ishaving a dramatic eect on both remaining orms owild poliovirus particularly on wild poliovirus type 3

(WPV3).

The introduction o bOPV had an immediate impacton WPV3 case numbers (graph) in 2010, dropping92% rom 2009 levels to a total o 87, the lowest-evernumber o WPV3 cases. Only nine cases o WPV3 havebeen reported or 2011 so ar, compared to 42 at thistime in 2010 (as o 26 April).

Dr Jacqueline Fournier-Caruana, Technical Ofcer atWHO, said that another exciting development wasthe eect bOPV has had on overall case numbers inendemic countries:

Ater the use o the vaccine in endemic areas like UttarPradesh and Bihar in India, and in Nigeria, we haveseen a huge impact on the number o cases, conrmingthe results o the preliminary trial conducted in Indiain 2009. It seems that bivalent is even more efcient inthe eld than expec ted.

The introduction o bOPV is part ially credited or themore than 94% reduction in overall case numbers inboth Nigeria and India in 2010. Dr Fournier-Caruanaand partners such as manuacturers and National

Regulatory Authorities have been working tirelesslyin conjunction with UNICEF to speed up the licensingand prequalication processes and ensure that morechildren can benet rom the protection that bOPVprovides. Four manuacturers have had their bOPVapproved by the WHOs prequalication process andthree more manuacturers look set to have their bOPVprequalied by the end o the year.

Meanwhile, new cases in west Arica threaten theglobal progress made against WPV3. Long-term use otype 1 monovalent OPV to ght o outbreaks o WPV1has let west Arica vulnerable to WPV3. Insecurity inCte dIvoire complicates the outbreak response, butit is important that quick ac tion is taken to improveimmunity to WPV3 in west Arica beore the virus canspread any arther. - Lauren OConnor.n

Bivalent vaccine puts squeeze on type 3 polio

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bOPV introduced

Global number o WPV3 cases reported by month, 2009 - 2010 (graph)

magine you are a health worker in a hospitalin Pointe Noire in the Republic o Congo. Not

having seen a case o polio or years, your wards are

suddenly overfowing with patients who have beenparalysed by polio. Your hospital is not equipped orsuch a calamity, and without ventilators those patientswhose lungs are aected will slowly stop breathing.All attempts at invasive mechanical ventilation so arhave ailed. What would you do?

Faced with a surge in such cases and deaths latelast year in Congo, the World Health Organization(WHO) sent a team to investigate the epidemicarea, led by consultant Dr Martin Dnser. While thereasons or the repeated ailure o invasive ventilationtechniques were deemed unclear by the team, it wassuggested that poor hygiene practices and the medicalstas lack o training probably played a role. However,Dr Dnser had arranged with the WHO to bringventilators with him on the trip:

Although I had never seen polio beore, it was c lear

that patients require ventilators. Since electricitysupply is unreliable and gas supply inexistent, it

was impossible to carry standard ventilators. Thisis why the polio department [o WHO], the GlobalInitiative on Emergency and Essential Surgical Careo the WHO and I had searched or modern home-based ventilators which could provide the requiredventilatory modes. Thanks to great collaborationo all participants we could organize the ourventilators within 2 days.

These new ventilators do not require invasiveprocedures and can thereore be utilized by thecurrent sta o the Hospital Adolphe Sice in PointNoire. Mdecins Sans Frontires agreed to train thePointe Noire health workers in the proper use and careo the machines.

Congo aced a deadly outbreak o wild poliovirustype 1 (WPV1) at the end o 2010, ater being polio-ree or almost 10 years. O the 382 people who were

paralysed by polio last year, 179 died, many o themteenagers and young adults. - Lauren OConnor.n

Ventilators help Congolese patients survive polio

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Asselin/UNICEF

Unusually, most o those struck with polio during the Congo outbreak

are young adults, not children under ve. [When I got here I could

still move my arms says Tony Boussana, 24.]

What is prequalication?The World Health Organization (WHO) plays a leading role in scrutinizing vaccines. When a vaccine produced by a certain manuac turer has passed WHOs rigorous qualitytesting, it is s aid to be prequalied. This inormation, in conjunction with other procurement criteria, is used by United Nations organizations (such as UNICEF, in the case opolio vaccine) to make purchasing decisions. Countries that do not have their own regulatory bodies also rely on this inormation to guide their vaccine purchasing choices.Prequalication is a sign a vaccine meets global standards o quality, saety and ef cacy.


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News

he TED Talks are well known or presenting ideasworth spreading one o which is the incredible

worldwide eort to eradicate polio. Dr Bruce Aylward,then Director o the Global Polio Eradication Initiative,was invited to speak at TED2011 by guest host Bill Gates,co-ounder o the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. DrAylward has recently taken on the position o AssistantDirector-General at the WHO, elevating polio eradicationto the centre o a new cluster designed to acilitatenational and international cooperation in order to providehealthcare to the most vulnerable and hardest-to-reachpopulations.

Footage o the speech will be available soon at:www.ted.com.n

Bruce Aylward speaks atTED2011

Gates call to donor community answered by UK and the Crown Prince o Abu Dhabin January 2011, Bill Gates launched his thirdannual letter with a speech at the historic

Roosevelt House, the ormer New York home oFranklin Delano Roosevelt, where the uture Americanpresident recuperated ater being stricken with polioat age 39.

In this years letter, Mr Gates acknowledges thatgovernments around the world are acing toughdecisions about how to reduce spending, but he urgesthem to reconsider slashing oreign aid unding:

Although oreign aid accounts or less than 1 percento governments total budgets, it is one place beingconsidered or cuts. As a result, health and agriculturalassistance that saves lives and puts poor countries on atrack or sel-sufciency is at risk.

The worlds poorest will not be visiting governmentleaders to make their case, unlike other constituencies,so I want to help make their case by describing theprogress and the potential I see in key areas o healthand development.

In the case o polio eradication eorts, Mr Gatesletter recognized the tireless work o RotaryInternational and the strong support rom

governments including India, the United States, theUnited Kingdom, and Japan.

On January 25, the Foundation announced newcollaboration with His Highness Sheikh Mohammedbin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Crown Prince o Abu Dhabi.HH Sheikh Mohammed and the Foundation togethercommitted a total o US$ 100 million to global healthpartners the GAVI Alliance, the World HealthOrganization and UNICEF o which US$ 34 million

will go to delivering polio vaccine to children inAghanistan and Pakistan.

A ew days later, on 28 January, British Prime MinisterDavid Cameron announced a matching grant which

could see the United Kingdom double its currentcontribution to the Global Polio Eradication Initiativein 2011-12. Mr Cameron called on donors to back thepolio eradication eort, declaring that or every $ 5pledged by others rom January 2011 to December2012, the UK would increase its support by $ 1 - up to amaximum o 40million in new unding.

Mr Cameron said: I passionately believe that we havea once-in-a-lietime opportunity to rid the world o

the evil o polio. We have the vaccines and the tools todo it. All thats missing is real and sustained politicalwill to see this eort through to the end. Thats why Iam announcing today that the UK is prepared to ullyvaccinate an additional 45 million children againstpolio, through a doubling o our support to the GlobalPolio Eradication Initiative over the next two years.

In return or that commitment, we ask other donorsto do their bit, and aected countries to strengthentheir routine immunization programmes. - AmberZeddies/Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.n

There is never awrong time to dothe right thing- Prime Minister David Cameron.n

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Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation - Bill and Melinda Gates join UK

Prime Minister David Cameron in announcing new unding to

eradicate the crippling disease polio worldwide.

Bill&MelindaGatesFoundation

o minimize the risks o acquiring polio(or travellers to inected areas) and o

reinection o polio-ree areas (by travellers rominected areas), the World Health Organization(WHO) has updated its polio immunizationrecommendations or travellers in its publication,International travel and health 2011.

All travellers to and rom countries or areasreporting wild poliovirus should be adequatelyvaccinated. Travellers to countries or areas

reporting indigenous wild poliovirus who havepreviously received three or more doses o oralpolio vaccine (OPV) or inactivated polio vaccine(IPV) should be oered another dose o poliovaccine as a once-only dose beore departure.

Non-immunized individuals intending to travel tothese countries or areas should complete a primaryschedule o polio vaccination, using either IPV orOPV.

Individuals living in countries or areas report ingindigenous wild poliovirus should have completeda ull course o vaccination against polio, preerablywith OPV, beore travelling abroad. Such travellersshould receive an additional dose o OPV 1-12months beore each international journey.

In case o urgent travel, a minimum o one doseo OPV should be given, ideally our weeks beoredeparture.

For more, visit www.who.int/ith.n

WHO updates polio immunizationrecommendations or travellers

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News

DR Congo girds up or polio ght

F aced with possible ongoing transmissiono a re-established poliovirus and newimportations, the President o the Democratic Republico the Congo, Joseph Kabila, invited the Director-General o the World Health Organization (WHO),

Dr Margaret Chan and the WHO Regional Directoror Arica, Dr Lus Gomes Sambo to meet with him inKinshasa in February. Talk centred on ways to bestimplement and monitor the countrys emergencyresponse plans. At a meeting with donors, partnersand government ofcials, President Kabila expressedhis governments rm commitment to ending thecurrent polio outbreak.

In early March, UNICEF Executive Director AnthonyLake also visited the country, meeting with thePrime Minister and the Minister o Health to discussthe governments vital role in putting an end to polio.During his visit, Mr Lake witnessed rst-hand the dailyeorts o community health workers in the capital,

Kinshasa, where several cases o polio have beenrecorded since January.

No threat could be more urgent than todays polioresurgence, Mr Lake said. Not only does it put lives andlivelihoods at risk in the DRC, it also threatens to undoour global progress in eradicating polio. We have theability to deeat polio, and because we can, we must.

DR Congo is currently aected by three distinctoutbreaks. Katanga, in the east o the country,continues to be aected by re-established WPV1transmission, ongoing in the country since 2007.The two separate outbreaks in Bandundu / KasaiOccidental and in Bas-Congo / Kinshasa are linked tointernational spread rom Angola.

In a recent development, governors o the 11 provinceso DR Congo met on April 25 and issued a Declarationo Engagementto deploy the powers o their ofcesto eradicate polio and strengthen the ExpandedProgramme on Immunization. The cascading eecto national and sub-national commitment places DR

Congo on the right track to polio eradication. - LaurenOConnor and Christ ian Moen/UNICEF.n

Kinshasa, March 2011: While waiting until the National Football

Team is ready to get vaccinated against polio, a security ofcer

takes his chance. In response to a large number o older-age cases,

recent rounds in Kinshasa have been expanded to cover adult as

well as children.

CorneliaWalther/UNICEF

Rukhsar: one child triggers Indias emergency responseKolkata, 30 March 2011 - Rukhsar Khatoon takesone look at her visitors and tucks her face into hermothers shoulder, crying in fear.

ver since she was paralyzed by polio, Rukhsarhas had to conront doctors, epidemiologists,

physiotherapists and nurses and this pesky photographer

is the last straw. To her, they are all doctor-olk, andshe wants nothing to do with them, her mother explainsapologetically.

The attention around Rukhsar started when her paralysiswas reported to the health authorities in her district oHowrah, in the Indian state o West Bengal. She is the onlychild to have been paralysed by polio in India this year.

Always a sickly child, Rukhsar was never vaccinated againstpolio. Her young mother Sabera Bibi explains, I didntknow what polio was. I thought the polio drops were orgeneral good health. Saberas two older children wereregularly given oral polio vaccine during supplementary

immunization campaigns, but because Rukhsar was otensick with diarrhoea, Sabera and her husband Abdul Shahwere reluctant to vaccinate her.

When Rukhsar couldnt walk on 13 January o this year, herparents took her to the local hospital. On 7 February, analysiso her stool samples conrmed that she had polio. Within

a week, a mop-up vaccination campaign was taking placearound Rukhsars home, to ensure other children wouldntall victim to poliovirus. By May, three campaigns will havetaken place in Howrah and the greater Kolkata area, to builda wall o immunity around West Bengal.

I made a mistake, her ather Abdul says quietly, by notgiving her polio drops. I would beg every parent to vaccinatetheir child and not make the same mistake.

Sabera adds, This is the one child I did not vaccinate, andnow she is the one aected. You must vaccinate your child,she reminds her visitors.

Although her condition is improving with physiotherapy,it is not certain that Rukhsar will regain the ability to walk.Married hersel at 15, Sabera worries about her daughtersprospects or schooling and marriage. Abdul, who worksin the zari (ne embroidery) industry like most o hisneighbours in their village, rets about the nancial costs oRukhsars treatments. The doctors have been very kind,

Sabera says, but we have to think o the uture and ourother children.

The virus which stilled Rukhsars legs is related to poliovirusound in New Delhi. Poliovirus can travel long distanceseasily, hitching a ride among travellers and migrants anderreting out the most vulnerable the unvaccinated, theunder-vaccinated, the very young. In Rukhsar s village,which is largely Muslim, most amilies have a memberworking in Mumbai, Indias melting-pot megacity. Thevillage also has contact with communities rom Bihar andUttar Pradesh, the two polio-endemic states o India.

Many o Rukhsars neighbours are what public healthadvocates call the under-served. Poor, marginalized, otenbelonging to a minority or migrant community, thesegroups have less access to health and other governmentservices. Polio in India is now nearly entirely restricted tothese communities. The state and ederal authorities usespecic tactics to reach such children, tactics which rangerom mapping a migrant groups seasonal movements tospecial eorts to address the needs or concerns o minoritycommunities about vaccination.

But all o this matters little to Rukhsar, who is in treatmentin a hospital in Kolkata. The paralysis has not aected herspirit, and she keeps her brows knitted in warning at her

visitors, adding a sharp cry whenever they venture too close.She has always been a handul, Sabera rues. Everyone athome misses her. But I cannot leave here until she walks.-Sona Bari/WHO.n

e

From the saety o her mother s lap, Rukhsar Khatoon looks suspiciously at her visitors in the hospital where she is being treated or

polio-paralysis.

S.Bari/WHO


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Polio partners support Angola

Looking towards the second hal o 2011

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epresentatives o the Global Polio EradicationInitiatives partner agencies have been

closely supporting Angola in recent months, at theinvitation o the countrys leadership, to help halt the

transmission o polio.At the end o January, President Jos Eduardo dosSantos received a joint delegation including UNICEFExecutive Director Anthony Lake, Dr Tachi Yamada,President o the Global Health Programme at the Billand Melinda Gates Foundation, and Dr MatshidisoMoeti, Assistant Regional Director or the World HealthOrganizations (WHO) Arican Region. The meetingcentred on ways to strengthen the nal push or polioeradication in Angola.

Following his meeting with the delegation, Presidentdos Santos reafrmed his personal commitment toeradicating polio, agreeing to spearhead the country s2011 vaccination campaigns and ensure that they are

conducted with determination and efciency.On 9 February, Rotary International President RayKlinginsmith met the Vice-President Fernandoda Piedade Dias dos Santos Nand and the ViceMinister o Health, Evelize Frestas, who reiterated thePresidents plan to ensure the ull engagement oprovincial Governors in implementing the country semergency plan to eradicate polio.

Rotarys top priority is polio eradication, saidKlinginsmith. We have contributed more than

US$ 1 billion, and countless volunteer hours to doeverything it takes to stop this terrible disease. Rotaryhas contributed more than US$ 421 million to supportpolio eradication eorts in Arica alone.

Genetic sequencing conrms that Angola isexperiencing ongoing transmission o a re-establishedpoliovirus o imported origin, meaning it has notmet its end-2010 milestone (under theStrategicPlan 2010-12) o stopping transmission. Anticipating

this risk, Angola ormulated an emergency plan orpolio eradication and xed a target to interrupt poliotransmission by June 2011. As o 26 April, two poliocases were repor ted or 2011. Synchronized NationalImmunization Days were help with Congo and theDemocratic Republic o the Congo at the end o April.- Petina Dixon/Rotary International and Christian Moen/UNICEF.n

t the end o the rst quarter o 2011, overallpolio case numbers in the endemic countries

o India and Nigeria have allen by more than 94%over 2009 levels, and global cases o w ild poliovirustype 3 (WPV3) are down to their lowest ever levels.Immunity proles are high in the key reservoirs o UttarPradesh and Bihar, India, and the prole in northernNigeria is improving. The Global Polio EradicationInitiative (GPEI) has established a set o priorities orthe next six months, to make the most o the currentepidemiological opportunity.

Given the role that India and Nigeria play in ex portingpolio virus to other countries, stopping transmission inthese countries is a oremost aim in polio eradication.

It will not be smooth sailing. Health worker strikesin Nigeria have prevented some areas o the countryrom holding immunization rounds. Even in India, themost recent case in West Bengal occurred amonga highly mobile population which has been resistant topolio vaccination in the past. Meanwhile, uncontrolledtransmission in Angola, Chad, the Democratic Republico the Congo and Pakistan means that re-impor tation isalways a threat. It is thereore important that India andNigeria do not use their recent successes as an excuse tobecome complacent.

Quick and eective mop-ups along with adequatecoverage o migrant and mobile populations will helptowards the objective o ending transmission in India

and Nigeria. This will also be the ocus in Aghanistan,which has only seen one case so ar this year (as o26 April). But it is also necessary to gain control otransmission in those countries with current outbreaks.In Cte dIvoire, Mali, Niger (and possibly Sudan),the priority is to improve mop-ups and surveillance.Countries with uncontrolled transmission have beenasked to produce emergency plans to lay out clearstrategies to end t ransmission in all areas (except thosewhich are inaccessible due to insecurity). Obviously,ensuring the polio-ree status o all other countries

will also remain an integral par t o the GPEIs plans.This will be achieved by maintaining surveillance,continuing routine immunization and includingoral polio vaccine in child health days and measlescampaigns.

These priorities, along with the implementation o theGPEI Strategic Plan 2010-2012, will set the rameworkor polio eradication in the coming months.- Lauren OConnor.n

News

GraemeWilliams/UNICEF

RodCurtis/UNICEFIndia

Luisa Nzongo, holding her 17-month-old da ughter Georgina Luisa de Deus Nzongo, meets with Gates Foundation Global Health Program

President Dr. Tachi Yamada and UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake at her home, in Cacuaco Municipality on the outskir ts o Luanda,

Angolas capital. The toddler was recently diagnosed with polio.

A child is vaccinated against polio in Kolkata, India, ater a case in a nearby village.


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Rotary pulls out all the stops

D uring the week o 23 February, Rotary International celebrated its 106th

anniversary by illuminating monuments worldwideincluding the NewYork Stock Exchange building, Charminar in Hyderabad, India; the KPT GovernmentBuilding in Karachi, Pakistan; and Trevi Fountain in Rome, Italy with Rotaryspledge to End Polio Now.

Additional illumination sites include Kanazawa Castle, in Kanazawa, Japan; theBill & Melinda Gates Foundation headquarters in Seattle, Wash.; Taipei 101 Building,Taiwan, China; the Capitol Building in San Juan, Puerto Rico; Byblos Castle in Byblos,Lebanon; and the Dutch Parliament Building in The Hague, Netherlands.

Rotarys intent each year is to use the humanitarian organizations 23 Februaryanniversary date as a platorm or a dramatic visual public awareness campaign tobuild support or polio eradication. Other sites in recent years include the SydneyOpera House, Londons Tower Bridge, the Roman Coliseum and the Great Pyramid inEgypt.

The illuminations are augmented by a variety o activities drawing attention to theprogress that has been made towards polio eradication and the work being done tonish the job.

For example, representatives o Rotary and Sano Pasteur, a leading provider opolio vaccine, helped ring the opening or closing trading bells in our Europeannancial markets: Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris and Lisbon.

A closing bell ceremony at the New York Stock Exchange included remarks by RotaryPresident Ray Klinginsmith and Michael Watson, Sano Pasteurs vice president oglobal immunization policy, plus an appearance by UNICEF ambassador and polioeradication advocate Angelique Kidjo, the popular singer rom Benin.

Rotarians in Great Britain and Ireland planned ahead, selling and planting 4.6 millioncrocus bulbs across the region in October so their purple blooms would ower in lateFebruary, just in time or the anniversary celebrations. The colour purple is meantto evoke the purple dye used to mark the ngers o children who have received theoral polio vaccine during National Immunization Days. The Rotary Club o HitchinTilehouse, in England, even earned a citation in Guinness World Records or the mostpeople (636) simultaneously planting ower bulbs.

Polio eradication has been Rotarys top priority since 1985. The internationalhumanitarian service organization has donated more than US$ 1 billion andcountless volunteer hours to help immunize more than 2 billion children.- Petina Dixon-Jenkins/Rotary International.n

ResouRce MoBIlIzATIoN

Economic benets o GPEI estimated at US$ 40-50 billionT he economic benets o eradicating polio in the next ve years would beat least US$ 40-50 billion, mostly in low-income countries, according to

a report published in the journal Vaccine in December 2010. The study provides arigorous evaluation o the benets and costs o the Global Polio Eradication Initiative(GPEI)the single largest project ever undertaken by the global health community.

Entitled Economic Analysis o the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, the studylooks at investments made since the GPEI was ormed in 1988 and those anticipatedthrough 2035. Over this time period, the GPEIs eorts will prevent more than eightmillion cases o paralytic polio in children. This translates into billions o dollarssaved rom reduced treatment costs and gains in productivity.

The study also reported that add-on GPEI eorts improve health benets and lead

to even greater economic gains during the same time period. Notably, it estimatesan additional $ 17-90 billion in benets rom lie saving eects o delivering vitamin

A supplements, which the GPEI has supplied alongside polio vaccines.

Polio eradication is a good deal, rom both a humanitarian and an economicperspective, said Dr Radboud Duintjer Tebbens o Kid Risk, Inc., the lead author othe study. The GPEI prevents devastating paralysis and death in children and alsoallows developing countries and the world to realize meaningul nancial benets.

According to the study, although delays in achieving eradication are costly, evenwith delays, the GPEI still generates positive net economic benet estimates.

Investing now to eradicate polio is an economic imperative, as well as a moral one,said Dr Tachi Yamada, president o the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundations GlobalHealth Program. This study presents a clear case or ully and immediately unding

global polio eradication, and ensuring that children everywhere, rich and poor, areprotected rom this devastating disease.n

Rotarians, dignitaries and guests celebrate in ront o the city hall in

Lyon, France. Muriel Chaulet/Ville de Lyon

Charminar in Hyderabad, India. Ranjit Sinha Chumsungdae, a centuries-old observatory in

Gyeongju, South Korea. Eun Ok Lee


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New External & Domestic Contributions /Projections received or the period 2010-2012All gures US$ millions (As o 6 April 2011)

Donor 2011 2012 2011-2012

Angola $ 2.04 $ 2.04

Australia $ 0.34 $ 0.34

Bangladesh $ 11.90 $ 11.90

Canada $ 9.53 $ 7.65 $ 17.18

Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) $ 0.37 $ 0.37

Crown Prince o Abu Dhabi $ 17.00 $ 17.00

Gabon $ 1.66 $ 1.66

Italy $ 0.48 $ 0.48

Japan $ 3.25 $ 3.25

UNICEF Regular Resources $ 10.00 $ 10.00UK1 $ 2.65 $ 2.65

Total $ 59.22 $ 7.65 $ 66.87

Calendar or 2011puts humour intopolio history

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amiliar achievements can oten be taken or

granted, even orgotten. The InternationalFederation o Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC)has used humour to remind us o the strides made in polioeradication. The IFRC has produced a 2011 calendar onmilestones in polio eradication which depict key polio datesbased on cartoons, to provoke thought and discussion.From 1400 BC when evidence o polio showed up in ancientEgyptian art, to 1955 when Dr Jonas Salk developed therst polio vaccine, and most recently to 2010 when the newstrategic plan or eradicating polio was launched: theseevents are narrated with amusing images. As we movetowards eradicating polio, lets not orget where we havebeen and the many accomplishments already made.- Kate Elder/IFRC.n

ResouRce MoBIlIzATIoN

FlorisOudshoorn/IFRC

Rotary International, IFRC and many non-governmental organizations

have been essential partners with governments in reducing polio by99% worldwide.

1 Includes $ 1.18 million in reprogrammed unobligated unds rom previous grant s to WHO.(new contributions received betwe en January to March 2011)

Polio still cripples thousands of children

around the world. With your help, we can wipethis disease off the face of the earth forever.

Visit rotary.org/endpolioto help.

END POLIO NOW Rotary

Archbishop Desmond Tutu

We Are ThisClose to Ending Polio.

Rotary International

What do Desmond Tutu, Amitabh Bachchanand Jackie Chan have in common?

hey are among the many inuential leaders and celebrities around the world who havesupported Rotary Internationals This Close campaign.

And now you can create your own version o the This Close ad, and join an online gallery osupporters worldwide. The online application, www.thisclose.net is now live! At the site, you can alsoview the existing This Close campaign, and add your name to the ranks o supporters o the ght toend polio.

Once you create your ad, you can easily share your personalized This Close advertisement withyour riends and amily through email and social networks such as Twitter and Facebook in orderto generate urther awareness o the ght to end polio. You can also add a personal message osupport, enter your country and see which countries are digitally leading the charge to spreadawareness or polio eradication. (Note that due to technological limitations, the site is not currentlyavailable in Korean & Japanese characters.)

- Petina Dixon-Jenkins/Rotary International.n

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Events 16-25 May: 64th World Health Assembly in Swit zerland

28 July: Technical Advisory Group meeting in Chad

29 August-2 September: 61st Regional Committee or Aricameeting in Cte dIvoire

6-9 September: 64th Regional Committee or South-EastAsia meeting in India

12-15 September: 61st Regional Committee or Europemeeting in Azerbaijan

2-5 October: 58th

Regional Committee or the EasternMediterranean in the Syrian Arab Republicn

Publications Annual Report 2010

Financial Resource Requirements

IMB report - December 2010 and March 2011

Polio Pipeline, Winter 2011, No. 7.n


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World Health Organization 2011. All rights reserved. The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part

of the World Health Organization concerning the legal status of any country, ter ritory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. Dotted lines on maps

represent approximate border lines for which there may not yet be f ull agreement. All reasonable precautions have been taken by the World Health Organization to verify the information contained in this

publication. However, the published material is being distributed without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied. The re sponsibility for the interpretation and use of the material lies with the

reader. In no event shall the World Health Organization be liable for damages arising from its use. Polio News is published quarterly by WHO Headquarters, Geneva, Switzerland. This publication is co-

funded by USAID, CDC, U NF and other donors to WHO unspecied extrabudgetary resources for polio eradication. Published data reects i nformation available at time of print.

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sPecIAl TRIBuTe

I think the greatestdanger is not rom thevirus itsel. Its rompeople that might getdiscouraged. We mustkeep in mind how

successul we havebeen, and there is noreason whatsoeverwhy we cannot nishthe work. - Bill Sergeant on receipt o a commemorative

plaque rom UNICEF in 2006.n

Polio eradication mourns loss o true polio champion

ChristineMcNab/W

HO

Bill Sergeant holds the award given to him by the 2006 World Health

Assembly, in recognition of his commitment to polio eradication.

ill Sergeant, ormer Chairman o Rotarys Internationals PolioPlus Committee and true polio hero, passedaway on 13 February at his home in Tennessee, USA.

Mr Sergeant was the Chairman o Rotar y Internationals International PolioPlus Committee o the RotaryFoundation, rom its inception in 1994 until 2006. During his tenure and under his guidance, Rotary Internationalcommitted more than US$ 500 million to the global polio eradication eort. His personal commitment and tirelessdedication to the achievement o a polio-ree world was se cond-to-none.

He was a towering orce and a legend in polio eradication. There are countless children around the world todaywithout lielong polio-paralysis, as a direct result o Bill Sergeants dedication.

Recognizing his personal engagement and drive or polio eradication, the World Health Assembly in May 2006honoured him, as he truly represented Rotarys motto o Ser vice Above Sel. He was a true riend to the world,and he will be sorely missed.n

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