Eradicating polio: the final hurdles.

摘要

In many ways, poliomyelitis is a sentinel disease of poor people, because the disease spreads particularly in large and densely packed populations with poor sanitation and less than optimum routine immunisation. In 1998, the World Health Assembly voted to eradicate poliomyelitis by 2005 through WHO's Global Polio Eradication Initiative. The fact four countries remain polio-endemic does not mean the campaign has failed. In 1998, 50 countries were polio-endemic. In that year too, there were about 350000 cases of poliomyelitis worldwide; last year, there were just over 1200.Uttar Pradesh State in western India remains one of the world's hotbeds of poliomyelitis. Nearly all of the 297 reported cases in India this year were in Uttar Pradesh (India had 66 cases in 2005); The other three polio-endemic countries are Nigeria, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. Previously polio-free countries have re-emergent disease. For instance, Somalia has had 215 cases so far this year, Ethiopia 37 cases. The response can only benew vaccination campaigns. Afghanistan is currently vaccinating over 7 million children younger than 5 years. Somalia, Ethiopia, and Kenya are targeting nearly 3 million children, and Nigeria is vaccinating 1-2 million.