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How can one help PolioPlus Ride 2003?
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PolioPlus Updates 2002 Polio partners report on success, obstacles in path to eradication The Global Polio Eradication Initiative, led by Rotary International, the World Health Organization, UNICEF, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), reports that 2001 saw some powerful strides in polio eradication with a record 575 million children under the age of 5 vaccinated in 94 countries. To date, 537 polio cases had been reported last year worldwide
- down from 2,979 in 2000 - though that figure may increase slightly.
The number of polio-endemic countries also dropped from 20 in 2000 to 10
in 2001. This represents a greater than 99.8 percent reduction since 1988,
when polio
Synchronized National Immunization Days in West Africa and Central Africa contributed greatly to this success. Two rounds of immunization campaigns in Afghanistan and Pakistan in September and November reached 35 million children. "We have the polio virus on the run," said Dr. Steven Cochi, director of the CDC's global immunization division. Despite the progress made, Global Polio Eradication Technical Consultative Group (TCG), which just completed its annual review of the initiative earlier this month, warned of two obstacles that jeopardize the success of the entire effort: armed conflicts, which prevent access to children in remote areas during immunization campaigns, and a US$275 million funding gap. Dr. Marie-Otelia Costales, senior health advisor, UNICEF, said security and access issues in many countries continue to pose problems for immunization workers. The TCG found that the greatest threat to the eradication initiative is to close the $275 million funding gap for the initiative, which dropped from $400 million in the past year, thanks to contributions from Canada, the United States, Japan, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, among others. RI's new campaign, Fulfilling Our Promise: Eradicate Polio, aimed at raising $80 million to help fill that gap, will be officially launched in June at RI's 93rd annual Convention in Barcelona, Spain. "If we raise this money now, we will be saving all of humankind from this disease for all time, and that's priceless," said Foundation Trustee Chairman Luis Vicente Giay. At a 16 April press conference at the Press Club in Washington, D.C., USA, representatives of the partner organizations leading the Global Polio Eradication Initiative reiterated that countries should not falter in their will to continue attacking the disease. Dr. John Sever, RI PolioPlus Committee, said at the briefing
that Rotary will work together with the initiative to "do everything in
our power to make sure nothing derails this effort."
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